Laura Ruby is an American novelist known for her young-adult and children’s books. As a teenager, she was inspired to write poetry in order to express her insecurities and anxieties. This led to her studying English literature in college and later becoming a professor at Hamline University for its MFA program. Her foray into novel writing began with the publication of her first book entitled Everything I Wanted to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume in 2006. She consistently wrote and published novels after her debut: The Wall and the Wing (2006), I'm Not Julia Roberts (2007), The Chaos King (2007), Good Girls (2008), Play Me (2008), Bad Apple (2009), and Lily's Ghosts (2011).
In 2015, Ruby released her most acclaimed work to date, Bone Gap, which tells the story of a teenage girl named Roza who lives in a secluded rural town. When she suddenly disappears, her friend Finn goes into a frenzy trying to find her. In this harrowing story of love, loss, and sacrifice, Finn will uncover the darkest secrets of their seemingly sleepy town.
Upon its publication, Bone Gap garnered rave reviews from critics and audiences for its provocative portrayal of a murder case. Maile Meloy of The New York Times states that the novel is “about actual changes in worldview, and all its science and myth and realism and magic are marshaled, finally, to answer crucial questions about empathy and difference, and the ways we see the people we love.” Bone Gap was ultimately named a National Book Award finalist and won the Printz Award for Best YA Book of 2015.
