Southern Ruby

by Belinda Alexandra

  ‘I love you!’ I said to Grandma Ruby and Leroy, my laughter melting into tears. ‘I love you both so much.’

  We hugged each other, then Leroy kissed Grandma Ruby and me. ‘I love you both too,’ he said. ‘The storm took away everything I had, but it gave me a family.’

  The waitress showed us to a table near the window. A gardener was trimming the hedges outside and the street was clean and free of debris. After being in a flooded city, the orderliness of our current surroundings was surreal. I tucked into my roasted beet risotto like I’d never seen food before. Grandma Ruby had ordered a green bean and wild mushroom casserole to build herself up again, while Leroy ordered shrimp and grits ‘in honour of New Orleans’. We were silent as we ate, each lost in our own thoughts.

  ‘Everything changes in fifty years and nothing changes too,’ Grandma Ruby said finally. ‘When I think of those people in the Superdome . . . and the people who died in the Lower Ninth Ward . . .’ She choked back her tears. ‘There were moments when I was sure we were going to die too, but the fact that we didn’t tells me that we have something to do.’ She clasped Leroy’s hand. ‘New Orleans is going to be hurting for a long time. The city needs our story. It needs people who will help it bridge the gap between its black and white citizens. And that is exactly what I intend to do with whatever time I have left.’

  She ordered dessert and sherry for us, but I wanted to give her and Leroy some time alone to celebrate their reunion so I made the excuse of returning to the room to check on Flambeau and see if there were any messages from Elliot.

  Before I left the restaurant, I turned back to spy on my grandparents from the doorway. They were holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes like young lovers. Despite all they had been through and the years they’d been separated, their expressions were serene. For a moment I saw them both as they had been when they were young: Grandma Ruby as Jewel in her red sequined dress, and Leroy in his sharp suit. Life had been cruel to them, but it had also been kind. Grandma Ruby was right: she and Leroy should share their story. It was a story of injustice but also one of love — a true New Orleans story.

  I was heading towards the elevator when I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Elliot. A rush of warmth hit my heart. If I’d had the energy I would have leaped for joy. Instead I ran to him and threw my arms around him and pressed my face into his chest. ‘Thank God, you’re all right!’ I cried. ‘I was beginning to think I’d never see you again!’

  ‘Easy,’ he said, laughing. ‘My ribs are bruised and I smell like a sewer.’

  I didn’t care how he smelled, I was so happy to see him. I took his hand and led him to the elevator. ‘What happened to you after you dropped us off at the bridge?’ I asked him.

  ‘I ended up at the Superdome on Friday after my boat hit a submerged post and sank,’ he explained. ‘But I managed to get about one hundred and fifty people out and a truckload of cats and dogs into the hands of animal rescuers. I don’t think that experience is something I’m ever going to forget.’

  I gazed into Elliot’s eyes, so thankful that I hadn’t lost him. He’d rescued so many people and animals. He was a hero, but I knew he’d never call himself one. ‘We’ve got a room upstairs,’ I said, when the elevator doors opened. ‘You can clean up and I’ll order you some food. How did you find us?’

  ‘I was moved to the Hyatt Hotel as everyone was being shipped out. I couldn’t find you and was put in a group to be flown out to San Antonio. On the flight I got talking to a couple of Australians who had seen you and said you’d been sent on a bus to Dallas. I caught a flight to here then asked around at the convention centre until I traced you to the hotel.’

  While Elliot took a shower, I turned on the television. It was the worst thing I could have done because all the news bulletins were showing ghastly images from New Orleans: the city underwater; bloated bodies floating in the muck or left on bridges and at other supposed rescue points; looters and armed guards roaming the streets because law and order had broken down and people were shooting each other simply because they could.

  ‘We had a narrow escape in the storm,’ I heard Elliot say behind me. ‘A very narrow escape.’

  He took a beer from the mini-bar and sat down next to me on the edge of the bed, a towel wrapped around his waist. There were scratches on his stomach and back, and blisters on his feet. I looked at my own blistered feet and understood then that we’d been through something that would bond us forever.

  ‘You won’t want to stay now, will you, Amandine? You’ll go back to Australia,’ Elliot said. There was a sad ache in his voice. ‘It’ll be months before New Orleans is habitable again, maybe even years, and many people probably won’t ever come back. I’m not sure if the university is still there, or where all the students will go. I might not have a job to return to.’

  He put his beer down and rubbed his face. ‘Hurricane Katrina didn’t kill people. Neglect did. Plain, criminal neglect. How do you ever recover from that? How do you make peace with yourself knowing that people were murdered by the corruption, arrogance and apathy of their own government?’

  I turned the television off and took his hand in mine. ‘Grandma Ruby thinks we survived because we have a duty to fulfil,’ I said, and squeezed his hand harder. ‘I’m not going back to Australia, Elliot. New Orleans is going to need people who love it to nurse it back to life. As well as its doctors, nurses, teachers and government employees it’s going to need its storytellers — its writers and its musicians. And it’s going to need architects to help people rebuild their homes. I’m not talking about big fancy plantation homes or mansions in the Garden District — there’ll always be people to renovate them. I mean architects who’ll work for free to help poor people rebuild their homes — and make them better than the ones they had before. Homes designed for the local conditions, that won’t collapse so easily in hurricanes or floods.’

  ‘Amandine . . .’ Elliot tried to say more, but he was too choked with emotion. Instead he curled his fingers around mine and pulled me towards him so I was nestled in his lap.

  I kissed him like my life depended on it, then I pressed my face to his neck and thought back to that crazy night with Blaine in the Louisiana swamplands and the racoon and putting my wish in the cauldron. That wish had come true, despite all the horror and turmoil that had threatened to destroy it.

  No matter what chaos we had to endure when we returned to New Orleans, I would stay. I had finally found the place where I belonged.

  Southern Ruby

  BOOKCLUB QUESTIONS

  What did you think about Ruby’s attempts to get herself, Maman and Mae out of financial difficulties? Do you believe her only alternative was to become a burlesque dancer, or did she have other options? Would you have made the same choice in her situation?

  Burlesque striptease in the 1950s was an entertainment directed at men. But the revival of traditional burlesque led by stars such as Dita Von Teese attracts mostly female audiences.

  •What is it about burlesque dancing that might be appealing to modern women?

  •How do you feel about burlesque striptease personally – is it a celebration of female sexuality and empowerment, harmless fun or a form of repression?

  Music plays a major role in both Ruby’s and Amanda’s stories. Have you been touched by music in a way that has changed or defined your life?

  Amanda sees the world with an architect’s eyes. The houses in Southern Ruby are richly described: Ruby’s Apartment; Amandine; the Thezan’s family home; Terence’s house in the Lower Ninth Ward; Aunt Louise and Uncle Jonathan’s house etc.

  •Do you agree that the houses help demonstrate the inner lives of the characters and if so in what ways?

  •The settings of Belinda Alexandra’s books often focus on the symbolism of certain buildings. For example: Anya’s home in Harbin (White Gardenia) contrasted with her new home in Sydney; the significance of the Paris Opera House to Paloma (Golden Earrings). Do you think th
e architecture and decor of your childhood home shaped your character in any way? Are there any buildings in your city that hold great emotional significance to you?

  What does Estée’s funeral scene represent to you? Some readers have been shocked by the graveyard scenes – how do the cultural ideas about death represented in Southern Ruby differ from your own?

  Amanda is appalled by the racism of the USA’s past – but what about the racism of the present? What do you think is the experience of black people in America today? Is it different from that of Ti-Jean and the young Leroy? Did the story make you reflect on racism in your own country or change your own views in any way?

  Did anything you learned about New Orleans, the Civil Rights Movement, burlesque or Hurricane Katrina surprise you?

  Do you think Ruby and Leroy could have been happy if they had eloped to San Francisco when they were young? What do your think the future holds for them now?

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I am enormously grateful to everyone who has been a part of the creation of Southern Ruby. Special thanks should go to my publisher at HarperCollins Australia, Mary Rennie, and editor extraordinaire, Nicola O’Shea, for their expertise and enthusiastic feedback on shaping the story and bringing the characters to life. Thank you also to the entire the team at HarperCollins Australia for their invaluable support, including publishing director Shona Martyn, CEO James Kellow, fiction publisher Anna Valdinger and the indefatigable marketing, sales, design and publicity teams. Historical novels include a lot of detail and I am grateful to the meticulous care of senior editor, Nicola Robinson, for all her hard work to make sure those details were correct and to Katie Lauve-Moon, Drew Keys, Annabel Adair and Pam Dunne for their careful readings of the proof-sheets, and to editor Scott Forbes for his help crafting the tennis scene.

  I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to my literary agent, Selwa Anthony, for all her guidance and encouragement. I am deeply appreciative of my beautiful family – including the much adored four-legged members – as well as my loyal friends, for their love and support through the long hours of discipline and solitude that are involved in writing a book. I am especially indebted to my husband, Mauro. He knows why.

  Finally, I would like to thank the inspiring and resilient people of New Orleans for sharing their wonderful city and their personal stories with me.

  My sincere thanks to you all.

  Be swept away . . . Discover the world with Belinda Alexandra

  Passion, secrets, history and intrigue from a great Australian storyteller

  WHITE GARDENIA

  ‘Mama, Mama,’ I said to myself, ‘keep safe. You will survive, and I will survive, until we can find each other again.’

  In a district of the city of Harbin, a haven for White Russian families since Russia’s Communist revolution, Alina Kozlova must make a heartbreaking decision if her only child, Anya, is to survive the final days of World War II.

  White Gardenia sweeps across cultures and continents, from the glamorous nightclubs of Shanghai to the harshness of Cold War Soviet Russia in the 1960s, from a desolate island in the Pacific Ocean to a new life in post-war Australia. Both mother and daughter must make sacrifices, but is the price too high? Most importantly of all, will they ever find each other again?

  Rich in incident and historical detail, this is a compelling and beautifully written tale about yearning and forgiveness.

  ‘Depicts vividly the powerful lifelong bond between mothers and daughters’ — Paullina Simons

  ‘Captivating’ — Daily Telegraph

  ‘A passionate and powerful family saga’

  — Australian Women’s Weekly

  WILD LAVENDER

  ‘Nothing is wasted, Simone. The love we give never dies.’

  At fourteen, Simone Fleurier is wrenched from her home on a Provençal lavender farm and sent to work in Marseille. Her life there is hard and impoverished, but Simone discovers the music hall and a dream: to one day be a famous dancer and singer.

  But when war threatens, Simone makes a decision that will lead to great danger — yet ultimately prove that love, just like wild lavender, can grow in the least likely of places . . .

  Belinda Alexandra has created a tale of passion and courage that moves from the backstreets of Marseille to the grand music theatres of Paris, from the countryside of Provence to decadent pre-war Berlin and jazz-age New York.

  Wild Lavender is a feast for the senses that will live on in the imagination long after the book is closed.

  ‘Filled with glamour, heartbreak, drama and suspense’

  — The Age

  ‘Rich in detail, and the story fairly rattles along’

  — Choice magazine

  SILVER WATTLE

  A dazzling novel about two exceptional sisters, set in the Australian film world of the 1920s.

  In fear for their lives after the sudden death of their mother, Adéla and Klàra must flee Prague to find refuge with their uncle in Australia. There, Adéla becomes a film director at a time when the local industry is starting to feel the competition from Hollywood.

  But while success is imminent, the issues of family and an impossible love are never far away. And ultimately dreams of the silver screen must compete with the bonds of a lifetime . . .

  Silver Wattle confirms Belinda Alexandra as one of our foremost storytellers. Weaving fact into inspiring fiction with great flair and imagination, this is a novel as full of hope, glamour and heartbreak as the film industry itself.

  ‘An absorbing story of hope and despair, loyalty and love’ — Woman’s Day

  ‘Readers are kept on their toes . . . and it’s a worthwhile wait’ — Courier-Mail

  ‘Keeps you involved and caring . . . an engrossing read’

  — MX

  TUSCAN ROSE

  A tale of sacrifice and reward, of beauty and horror . . . and of redemption.

  A mysterious stranger known as ‘The Wolf’ leaves an infant with the sisters of Santo Spirito. A tiny silver key hidden in her wrappings is the one clue to the child’s identity . . .

  When Rosa turns fifteen, she must leave the nuns who have raised her to become governess to the daughter of an aristocrat and his strange, frightening wife. Their house is elegant but cursed, and Rosa — blessed with gifts beyond her considerable musical talents — is torn between her desire to know the truth and her fear of its repercussions.

  Meanwhile, the hand of Fascism curls around beautiful Italy, threatening her citizens. In the face of unimaginable hardship, will Rosa’s intelligence, intuition and her extraordinary capacity for love be enough to ensure her survival?

  ‘A wonderful story that had me reading until the early hours of the morning’ — Good Reading

  ‘Impeccable research into the terrible times of Mussolini’s Italy makes this story of sacrifice and salvation unforgettable’ — Woman’s Day

  GOLDEN EARRINGS

  ‘You who judge me: come! Let me tell you a story . . .’

  Paloma Batton is the granddaughter of Spanish refugees who fled Barcelona after the Civil War. A disciplined student with the School of the Paris Opera Ballet, Paloma lets little get in the way of her career until she receives a mysterious pair of golden earrings. She begins exploring her Spanish heritage and becomes fascinated by ‘la Rusa’, a woman who rose from poverty to become one of the great flamenco dancers of modern times before committing suicide.

  As Paloma begins to unravel the secrets of the past, she discovers more than one person who had good reason for wanting la Rusa dead, including Paloma’s own grandmother.

  Golden Earrings is a story that moves between two great cities: Barcelona in the lead-up to the Civil War and Paris in the 1970s. It is the story of two women and the extremes to which they are willing to go for love. It is a story of great passions — and great betrayals — where nothing is quite as it seems.

  ‘Totally enthralling’ — Herald Sun

  SAPPHIRE SKIES

  A love
bigger than a war. A beautiful woman lost. A mystery unsolved . . . until now.

  2000: The wreckage of a downed WWII fighter plane is discovered in the forests near Russia’s Ukrainian border. The aircraft belonged to Natalya Azarova, ace pilot and pin-up girl for Soviet propaganda, but the question of her fate remains unanswered. Was she a German spy who faked her own death, as the Kremlin claims? Her lover, Valentin Orlov, now a highly decorated general, refuses to believe it.

  Lily, a young Australian woman, has moved to Moscow to escape from tragedy. She becomes fascinated by the story of Natalya, and when she meets an elderly woman who claims to know the truth behind the rumours, Lily is drawn deeper into the mystery.

  From the pomp and purges of Stalin’s Russia through the horrors of war and beyond – secrets and lies, enduring love and terrible betrayal, sacrifice and redemption all combine in this sweeping saga from Belinda Alexandra.

  ‘Belinda Alexandra has unveiled another literary gem’

  — Courier-Mail

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  BELINDA ALEXANDRA has been published to wide acclaim in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Norway, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Hungary and the United States. She is the daughter of a Russian mother and an Australian father and has been an intrepid traveller since her youth. Her love of other cultures is matched by her passion for her home country, Australia, where she is a volunteer carer for the New South Wales Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES). An animal lover, Belinda is also the patron of the World League for the Protection of Animals (Australia).