Eight months after dropping out of Tarble, an all-women's college, twenty-two-year-old Ruby Rousseau is still haunted by the memories of her senior year-a year marred by an affair with her English professor and a deep depression that not only caused her to question her own sanity but prompted a failed suicide attempt.
And then a mysterious paisley print suitcase arrives, bearing Ruby's name and address on the tag. When Ruby tries to return the luggage to its rightful owner, Beth Richards, her dorm mate at Tarble, she learns that Beth disappeared two days earlier, and the suitcase is the only tangible evidence as to her whereabouts.
Consumed by the mystery of the missing girl and the contents of the luggage-a tattered copy of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, the book on which Ruby based her senior thesis, and which she believes instigated her madness-she sets out to uncover the truth, not only about Beth Richards's past but also her own. In doing so, Ruby is forced to reexamine the people from her past: the professor who whisked her away to New Orleans and then shattered her heart and the ghosts of dead women writers who beckoned her to join their illustrious group. And when Ruby's storyline converges with Beth's in a way she never imagined, she returns to the one place she swore she never would: her alma mater.
My thoughts...
A year ago Ruby couldn't handle life anymore, she had lost her father and the professor she was in love with ended their relationship leaving her feeling like such a fool. Seeing no way out she felt she had to end it all and unsuccessfully attempted suicide. She leaves college and moves to Chicago, later she finds her former roommate is missing and she must return to the college to look for her.
This isn't one of those typical "girl plays detective" novels, it's an interesting, well written, story with lots of twists and turns that kept me wondering what did actually happen. The ending, though wrapped up nicely, was a bit of a disappointment... it was an OK ending but I was hoping for more. There are interesting characters, a good plot, and enough suspense to make this a wonderful read!
I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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