Photo: Graham Dainty
It never ceases to amaze Ruth Shaw that people have travelled from all over New Zealand – and indeed, from around the world – to visit her in the three tiny bookshops she runs in the remote Southland settlement of Manapōuri.
“People say, ‘It’s an honour to meet you,’ and I say, ‘I’m just Ruth – I’m nothing special,’” she tells.
Her visitors disagree with that. She’s the author who has touched many thousands of readers around the world with her own book, The Bookseller at the End of the World, a memoir about a life packed with challenges and trauma that she has navigated with incredible courage and written about with brutal honesty.
Her book, which also features funny and heart-warming stories, became a bestseller when Allen & Unwin published it in 2022. Now she has written a sequel, Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World. It picks up her story in the mid-1980s where the first book left off – with Ruth reuniting with the son she was forced to give up for adoption – and details many of the adventures she and her husband, boat skipper Lance Shaw, have had since then.
“It took me a while to write because I wasn’t ready at first,” admits Ruth, 78. “But I had so many people saying, ‘When are we getting the next part of your story?’ I felt a commitment to those readers who have been so supportive of me.”
She still feels staggered by the way her first book struck a chord. In it, she wrote candidly about being raped at 17 and having to give up the baby that resulted, the death of her second son hours after his birth and just months after becoming a widow, and her suicide attempt and stay in a psychiatric ward.
It also covers less tragic parts of her life, such as the adventures she had while crewing yachts – including an encounter with pirates – and her experiences as a welfare officer looking after sex workers in Sydney’s King’s Cross. She intersperses it with anecdotes about running the tiny bookshops on the grounds of her home.
But Ruth’s personal trauma has resonated most.
“I’ve had so many people thank me for writing the book,” she says. “I’ve had emails and people visiting from all over the world, including screeds of Germans. It was a bestseller in Germany.
“A lovely man drove from Timaru to thank me. When he read my book, he thought, ‘This is my sister,’ and asked her outright if she had been sexually abused. As a result, she told him her story. They finally reunited after years of him thinking she was just a problem child.
“An 82-year-old lady wrote a four-page letter to me – she had kept sexual abuse a secret all her life. When she read my book, she called a family conference and told them what had happened to her. Her daughter then said, ‘Now we understand you, Mum.’”
Talking about the responses makes Ruth emotional.
“I’ve always tried very hard to help people, but I didn’t realise the book was going to reach so many people and help them in some way after traumatic events,” she admits. “I’m pleased I have been able to show that as hard as it is, you can work through it and it can end up enriching your life in many ways.”
Ruth’s determination and resilient spirit also shines through in the book sequel. She has written about everything from a bout of mental illness that saw her hospitalised to dealing with vaginal prolapse.
“I felt determined to put the stuff about prolapse in,” she says. “Nobody talks about it and they should.”
She also shares insights into an unusual friendship with a wealthy Russian businessman, Dmitri. She and Lance had visited him in his homeland numerous times. He warned them to be very careful about what they said as he believed someone had bugged his home. On one occasion, Ruth realised that someone was even following she and Lance.
Ruth has travelled extensively. She has written about some of those experiences, including when officers detained her for several days at Dubai Airport. “Trouble follows me,” she muses. “Lance always says, ‘You are one drama after another.’ I know, but I don’t ask for it.”
At least the constant dramas have given her plenty to write about, but there are still stories she hasn’t shared. So will there be another book?
“I’m still writing,” she says. “So we’ll see!”
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