There is a copy of The Little Way Of Ruthie Leming floating around St. Francisville, because of the upcoming March 23 fundraiser at the high school. I’m doing a reading from the book — the first and only event of its kind pre-publication — and interviewing Dr. Tim Lindsey, Ruthie’s physician, and her dear friend Abby Temple Cochran, about their experiences with Ruthie during her cancer fight, and their key roles in helping me write the book about her. A friend of mine in town got her hands on the book, and just e-mailed:

I didn’t know whether to email you first or to post on Facebook and trumpet to everyone I know – and a few I don’t – that they need to preorder your book this instant.  And read it as soon as it arrives.

I don’t know whether to start my email by fussing at you for totally waylaying my grand and productive plans for the day to whip my house into shape for company on the last free weekend I have before they arrive (not to mention making me sob half the afternoon!) OR to thank you for blessing me with your wonderful Starhill story of family and love and friendship and relationships and journeys and faith.  Everyone thinks it’s a story about Ruthie, and it certainly is, but it is so much more, which is really saying something for those of us who know the person Ruthie was.

I spent the entire afternoon reading your book.  I loved it.  Period.  And from my most selfish perspective, I’d like to add that it touched me as a mother, a sister, a friend, a daughter, and a Christian.

I love to hear that. If you are in the St. Francisville area, please plan to come out for the reading, from 2 to 4 pm on Saturday March 23, at the West Feliciana High School auditorium. This is the annual spring fundraiser for the West Feliciana Library. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students, and are available at the library on Ferdinand Street in town. They’re doing it at the high school so as many of Ruthie’s friends and former students as possible can attend. It’ll be a special event, and I hope to see many of you there.

The book won’t be for sale there, because it won’t be published till April 9. But you can place your order from the library there (all profits will go to the library), or pre-order the book from Amazon right now. I think you’ll like it.