The Autumn of Ruth Winters
Greetings and welcome to the website for my novels. My first novel, The Autumn of Ruth Winters, has a publication date of November 5, 2024, from Lake Union Press and available from Amazon.
It has taken me a while to figure out how to answer the question, “What is your book about?” Because, whether you’re talking about the plot, the characters or the themes, it felt to me that this book was about too many things for me to narrow it down in that way. But I tried and this is what I came with:
It’s about an aging widow who discovers, late in life, a chance at happiness.
But, to me, it is about so many other things: connection, memory, fear, longing and, most of all, forgiveness—of oneself and others.
I’ve been writing my whole life, but I’ve never written anything like The Autumn of Ruth Winters. Having discovered Ruth, I’ve made it my mission not just to open her eyes to life but to open her heart to reconciliation and compassion—and to share her journey with readers.
I hope you enjoy her story. Feel free to reach out if you do.
Best,
Marshall Fine
Early Praise for The Autumn of Ruth Winters
“A late-in-life coming-of-age tale, proving that reconnection and reconciliation don't have an age limit. Fans of Hazel Prior's How the Penguins Saved Veronica and Lee Smith's Silver Alert will find lots to like in Fine's heartwarming novel about unexpected connections at unexpected times.”
– Booklist
"The moving story of a lonely, ordinary woman told with compassion, wit and an incredible wealth of very human detail. Time, memory, family and second chances, it deals with it all. I was rooting for Ruth Winters all the way to end. Highly recommended."
– Paul Giamatti
"An utterly beautiful tale of familial love that can not be extinguished through conflict and anger and the rewards of stepping out of one's comfort zone at any stage of life."
– Kyra Davis, New York Times-bestselling author of “Just One Night”
"A delightfully shrewd and entertaining novel with an aging, quirky heroine who reminds us that some of life’s most profound turns can be at the end of the rollercoaster. I fell in love with Ruth Winters and think you will, too."
– Julia Heaberlin, internationally bestselling author of “Night Will Find You”
"As a longtime film critic, Marshall Fine often showed a kinship for the gonzo wallop of Tarantino, Scorsese and Bloody Sam Peckinpah. So Fine fans may be shocked that his funny, touching and vital first novel, 'The Autumn of Ruth Winters,' features a retired widow in her 70s going it alone in suburban Minnesota. Look deeper and Ruth and her creator, both from Minneapolis, prove a natural fit. Ruth has a gunslinger’s mentality when it comes to keeping the world at bay, plus a sharp tongue for those who try her patience, and that includes Marvel movies and a call from her estranged sister. It’s a family crisis that gives Ruth a second shot at life and even romance. Don’t worry how Fine manages to persuasively enter the head and heart of a woman who’s discovering her real self for the first time. Just let this book work its magic. It’s an exuberant gift."
– Peter Travers, ABC News and Good Morning America
"If it is possible to write a bildungsroman about a woman in her sixties, Marshall Fine has done it. Fine takes his reserved heroine, Ruth Winters, on a journey through buried resentments, stifled grief, and petty slights until she finally accepts the love and compassion that was within her all along. She blossomed on the page like Austin’s Elinor Dashwood right before my eyes. Marshall Fine has created a beautiful and moving character, that if we open our hearts, we will see Ruth Winters everywhere."
– Griffin Dunne, author, “The Friday Afternoon Club”
"In‘The Autumn of Ruth Winters,’ Marshall Fine unspools the complex threads of familial relationships and weaves them back into an affecting tapestry of life's biggest and smallest moments…If you are looking for a false note in The Autumn of Ruth Winters, stop wasting your time. It is a pitch perfect story of family and forgiveness told with masterful precision…What happens when the person you hate the most suddenly needs you? In The Autumn of Ruth Winters author Marshall Fine explores this complicated question with an unflinching honesty that compels and entertains thoroughly…I want to take Ruth Winters out for coffee and tell her she's my new best friend! (Even though I have been told this will be difficult because she is a fictional character.)"
– Rob Burnett, writer-director, The Fundamentals of Caring
"Only a really great writer can take a story about a somewhat difficult woman and make you care and keep reading till the end. But then, ‘The Autumn of Ruth Winters’ is an absorbing novel for anyone who believes in love, in living life without comparison and in the idea that, as George Eliot said, ‘It’s never too late to be what you might have been.'"
– Georgette Gouveia, author, “The Games Men Play” series
"What really hides behind the forced smiles of 'Minnesota nice'? Longtime critic Marshall Fine pushes past middle-aged, Midwestern politeness to reveal some surprising drama in 'The Autumn of Ruth Winters.' Yet, filled as it is with sibling rivalries, bad marriages and secret scandals, ultimately this is a novel about forgiveness, uncovering not only disappointments but opportunities – once missed, now reclaimed."
– Stephen Whitty, author, “The Alfred Hitchcock Encyclopedia”