In Claire Jiménez’s debut novel, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez, we meet a Puerto Rican family from Staten Island. It’s 2008 and Dolores Ramirez and her daughters, Nina and Jessica, have been living with a gaping hole for more than a decade. Ever since Ruthy – Dolores’ headstrong middle child – disappeared after school at just 13 years old. Then one day, Jessica notices a woman on a reality TV show who looks just like her long-lost sister. Could it be the real Ruthy? As I read this novel, I was struck by the deep care the Puerto Rican author took in building the alternating voices of the Ramirez women. They are unflinchingly honest, funny, and loyal. The matriarch Dolores, in particular, stayed with me. She is a mother who exercises tough love on her daughters, but also questions many of the decisions she’s made as a parent. A mother who, in all of her chapters, speaks directly to her Lord. And she’s a mother crippled by guilt over her missing daughter, yet has...
