Blinkin’ Jack Ernest Stokes married Ruby when he was forty and she was in her twenties. He had never been in a relationship and she was surviving a horrible marriage with a man she ran away with just because.
The story is told first person from the perspective of a number of characters—mostly Jack and Ruby. They couldn’t have any children but “adopted” June, the daughter of the neighbours and the owner of the land he worked on.
“They didn’t fall in love so much as they simply found each other and held on for dear life”

This is a compact story of a marriage between two souls who stumbled into each other, one who sees the potential to fill a missing gap in his life and the other who is recovering from a loveless marriage and isn't really looking for anything. The tale is skillfully and poetically told with alternating points of view from chapter to chapter. The story is bittersweet since Ruby has terminal cancer, and some of it is painful to read. "His frustration and anger had rooted in and taken hold well below the place where tears start, and so would not be washed up nor out by them." However, there is much joy to be gleaned from the pages too. Well worth a read.

Simply a book about people needing people and what do to when we lose the person we need

"She hasn't been dead four months and I've already eaten to the bottom of the deep freeze."

So begins a love story. Jack and Ruby's story. A tale of love and loss, laughter and tears. This was one of two books by Kaye Gibbons that were included in Oprah's book club. I can understand why she said that you must read the two of them together. They compliment each other.

"Ellen Foster" has always been my favorite of the two, but I do love this book.

My interest in this story was initially poked during one of my husband’s daily devotion. That day’s lesson was entitled Greatness written by Brian K. Bauknight and the Bible reference was from Proverbs 31:10-31. That day was my birthday.

A virtuous woman, Ruby was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. Instead of worrying on her dying state, she busied herself preparing food for her husband for the months ahead… when she’s already gone. She was more worried about how Jack will get by without her.

Being orphaned at an early age, it was difficult for Jack to let go of Ruby. She was the only tangible evidence of life for him… the only one who truly cared. He was a farmer without a land, a man without a child, and a husband without a wife.

On the surface, this was a marriage of circumstance and convenience between two brutally honest people, Ruby and Jack. Beneath, theirs was an unconventional love story with unquestionable depth. A relationship that only two people who truly cares for each other may understand. Each was cherished quietly but unconditionally.

This story was alternately narrated between the two main characters, which gave it more emotion and made it very personal.

I loved this book!! I really enjoyed reading/learning the vernacular of the two main characters. It was so well written in that it switched from the husband and the wife and you get to know each of them better as you go along through the novel.
Someone commented that this book is simple - it is not. It is deeply emotional and uncovers the love and respect the couple has for each other and how each one navigates their relationship and life together. It was a joy to read because of that. The ending is so touching - poor Jack. I was sad to come to the end of the book. I usually complain that books are too long and that authors just fill up space with useless text...sometimes I Start to skim because of that. Not this book. I enjoyed it so much I wished it was much longer!!! it's touching, funny, emotional, thoughtful, well put together...just a joy to read. Well done Ms. Gibbons.

A friend shared this Kay Gibbons novel. I had read her Ellen Foster and considered it an excellent read.
A Virtuous Woman is a compelling love story that could have been placed in any decade of time.
The main characters are Ruby and Jack. They are not star-crossed lovers in the classic sense. They are not a match made in heaven by anyone's opinion. Ruby at 20 and Jack at 40 don't "fall in love so much as they simply found each other and held on for dear life".
The format the author uses to unfold their story to the readers is cleverly crafted. With such, she helps us watch these two seemingly ill-matched people "miraculously make a marriage".

my last and favorite book of 2023. i waited three days to read the last chapter because i didn’t want it to end.

I must admit that after this second reading of A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons my thoughts have changed and improved my rating from 2 to 4 stars. The reason I will surmise, having not written a review back then, is that I was younger and unable to connect on any level with the characters and I wasn’t reading this type of literature as I am now. I must have felt harshly with such a low rating but at least at this reading, I can understand why this worked this time around.

This is Kaye Gibbon's second novel, her debut being Ellen Foster which was a heartbreaking and sometimes painful coming of age story of a young girl. This time, Gibbons tells the story of an unlikely marriage between 40 year old Jack Stokes and 20 year old Ruby Pitts Woodrow Stokes. They tell their story in alternating voices and shed light on their troubles and their joys. Ruby and Jack come from completely different backgrounds. She is a wealthy farmer’s daughter and Jack is a tenant farmer who has never owned a thing in his life. This improbable pair meet after Ruby has spent a couple of horrible years married to her first husband. Throughout their telling of their story, we learn that Jack and Ruby long for companionship and fall into a marriage in which the two people learn how to live life learning each other’s faults and capabilities. Despite all of this, they have a good marriage.

Jack can be short and to the point the way he talks and sometimes what he says can come across as hurtful to outsiders. Ruby has learned his mannerisms and language and knows just how to handle him and love him. He loves her and when she dies of cancer at 45, he has to figure out how to get on with life.

This is not a pretty love story or one that will make you feel good. This is written in each of their voices and can be pretty bleak, but it’s realistic and raw. I liked Ruby and the woman she became with Jack. She was preparing meals to put away in the freezer for Jack so he’d have something for a few months after she was gone. I don’t know many women who’d think of another at such a time as this. We also hear the stories of Burr and Tiny Fran and their children June and Roland. Burr is Jack’s boss and he’s married to a demanding, lazy wife who treats June poorly and lets Roland do whatever he wants. He’s uncontrollable. Jack and Ruby bond with June and she becomes like the daughter they never had.

Kaye Gibbons writes a sparse story in plain and simple prose. Her unsympathetic and quiet style here is definitely enough to see the picture of a woman’s love and concern for her husband and his welfare.

It took me a long time to learn that mistakes aren’t good or bad, they’re just mistakes, and you clean them up and go on.

…I can honestly say that before I married Ruby I’d felt like a boy on the outside looking in, but Ruby, when she loved me, I said, This is what it must feel like to be a man.

Sometimes I feel like everything started with Ruby.

I did want somebody to take care of me. I needed it. And when I felt all that goodness coming from Jack, it didn’t matter what the person looked like that sent it out to me.

I just looked again at the stars in the rating system: two stars is for "it was ok." OK. I vacillate between liking aspects of A Virtuous Woman and feeling "meh" about this short novel (only 165 pages so good for a fast read).

What I appreciate: the two narrators, Blinking Jack Ernest Stokes, a 40 yo tenant farmer who falls in love with and remains in love with Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes, the 20 yo widow he marries. As different as can be, they enjoy a comfortable, companionable marriage until Ruby's death (not a spoiler as Jack tell us this early on). Gibbons's flipping between these two voices moves along what plot there is. It's a quiet novel, deceptively simple.

I chafed at chapter 13 and the inclusion of Mavis Washington. What is that about? Ugh. And why the italics at the end?

so, 2.5 or 3 or 2.

Kaye Gibbon's tells a sweet love story about a relationship that seems to be based on circumstance and convenience. It's not the usual torrid and obstacle ridden love affair that usually dictates a good romance novel (ie The Notebook). I found the book to be touching and very sad.

This book really focuses on the characters. Each chapter alternates perspectives between Jack (present day) and ruby (a few months earlier) I loved how they latched on to each other and they seemed to fit in with one another and fill in each other’s gaps. It really shows how much work and love it takes to make a marriage happy. I really enjoyed it.