All the girls talked of marriage one day. Of romance and fluttering hearts and the places they'd call home. Ruby believed that being a wife was an unlikely scenario for her. The face after all would be something of a deterrent.
In Melbourne in 1910, Ruby Pearl Hart is born into a family that does not want her. Failing to appreciate her gifts, all they see is the raspberry birthmark on her face.
Cast out, Ruby finds a makeshift family with the colourful misfits populating her Aunt's home, the Mary Street Terrace. Here, her intelligence, creativity and hope are allowed to thrive.
But when tragedy strikes, Ruby's ambitions for her life seem dashed. It's not until she is forced to move from Melbourne to Launceston that she comes to understand the battle for women's freedom is still being waged - and for some, life is much, much worse.
Exiled in this small town, she meets a group of artists and writers who call themselves 'The Aphorism Club'. Unique, clever and bohemian, they too are broken and cut adrift. In them, Ruby finally finds a safe harbour where she can dream, dance and reach for a life beyond social expectations.
In Tracey Lee's The Aphorism Club, there are forces working against Ruby that will take more than hope to overcome. In an unprecedented shift, Ruby is given a choice - but can she hope to make the right one in a world determined to keep her down?
