Miriam's Well

(Paperback)

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Description

A terminally ill teenager is forced to choose between her religion and her life

Adam doesnt think much of it when Miriam faints in class. Shes an oddball, a student who hardly talks, never makes eye contact, and wears clothes that seem straight out of the 19th century. She says shes fine, and he wants to believe her. But when she passes out while theyre working on an English assignment, Adam takes Miriam to the last place she wants to go: the hospital. Miriam has bone cancer. She believes that God will heal her, but if He doesnt, she plans to let herself die.

Miriam is a member of a devout religious sect in which women have little power and medicine is strictly forbidden. In order for Miriam to forgo treatment, Adams father sues the state on her behalfeven as Adam himself tries to convince her to accept the doctors help. As her illness rages on, Miriam will teach Adam the meaning of love and faithand he will give her a reason to live.

Reviews

[Miriams Well] exposes a powerful issuefaith in God versus faith in doctors.... [A] lifelike and sympathetic portrait of two complex adolescents. Publishers Weekly

Thought-provoking. School Library Journal

Author Bio

Lois Ruby is the author of 18 books for middle graders and teens, including Steal Away Home, Miriams Well, The Secret of Laurel Oaks, Rebel Spirits, Skin Deep, and The Doll Graveyard. Her fiction runs the gamut from contemporary to historical and from realistic to paranormal. An ex-librarian, Ruby now writes full-time, in addition to speaking to bookish groups, presenting at writing workshops, and touting literacy and the joys of nourishing, thought-provoking reading in schools across the country. Ruby and her husband live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains.