The Truth About Ruby Cooper by Liz Nugent

 

When sixteen-year-old Ruby is involved in an incident with her sister's boyfriend, she cannot face the judgment of her local community and flees to Ireland. Over the next twenty-five years, all her life choices are dictated by that one fateful day.

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent caused a huge buzz on social media (you can read my review here). There are so many discussion points raised in the novel. I feel that The Truth About Ruby Cooper is going to do just the same. This is a novel filled with moral choices and people who avoid doing the right thing.

Ruby is a strange character. At sixteen she's desperate to grow up. She constantly compares herself to her older sister, Erin, and finds herself lacking. Ruby is from an affluent, stable, and loving home; she has everything going for her, but her jealousy drives her to a reckless action. Initially, I was filled with sympathy for Ruby; those teenage years between adulthood and childhood can be frustrating, particularly when you have an older sibling. My sympathy towards Ruby was even greater after the "incident," and I fully understood Erin's conflicting emotions.

Following the incident and its repercussions, Ruby and her mother chose to relocate to Ireland. Unfortunately, her traumatic experience, low self-esteem and jealousy set in motion a spiral of self-destruction. It is impossible not to feel compassion for Ruby until she reveals the true nature of the "incident". This is a character who is only interested in her own survival, someone who's willing to tear her family apart and destroy the lives of others, rather than face the truth.

Over the next twenty-five years, we see Ruby prioritising her own security over that of others. She is a master manipulator who will stop at nothing to protect herself. Just as you are thinking she's finally turned her life around and is putting the welfare of others before herself, she does something truly wicked.

I found Ruby impossible to like; by the conclusion, I'd lost any sympathy I had for her. The choices she made had far-reaching consequences, with some devastating outcomes. Although she was only sixteen at the beginning of the story, she continued to put self-interest at the forefront for the rest of her life; any punishment she received seems meager in comparison to the damage she caused.

The Truth About Ruby Cooper by Liz Nugent will be published on 12th March 2026 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a review copy.

Author Details

Before becoming a full-time writer, Liz Nugent worked in film, theatre and television. Her five novels - Unravelling Oliver, Lying in Wait, Skin Deep, Our Little Cruelties and Strange Sally Diamond - have each been Number One bestsellers and she has won five Irish Book Awards, as well as the James Joyce Medal for Literature. She lives in Dublin.