The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life

THE LITTLE WAY OF RUTHIE LEMING follows Rod Dreher, a Philadelphia journalist, back to his hometown of St. Francisville, Louisiana (pop. 1,700) in the wake of his younger sister Ruthie's death. When she was diagnosed at age 40 with a virulent form of cancer in 2010, Dreher was moved by the way the community he had left behind rallied around his dying sister, a schoolteacher. He was also struck by the grace and courage with which his sister dealt with the disease that eventually took her life. In Louisiana for Ruthie's funeral in the fall of 2011, Dreher began to wonder whether the ordinary life Ruthie led in their country town was in fact a path of hidden grandeur, even spiritual greatness, concealed within the modest life of a mother and teacher. In order to explore this revelation, Dreher and his wife decided to leave Philadelphia, move home to help with family responsibilities and have their three children grow up amidst the rituals that had defined his family for five generations - Mardi Gras, L.S.U. football games, and deer hunting.

As David Brooks poignantly described Dreher's journey homeward in a recent New York Times column, Dreher and his wife Julie "decided to accept the limitations of small-town life in exchange for the privilege of being part of a community."

*Includes reading group guide*

• The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation
• How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History's Greatest Poem
• Letters to a Birmingham Jail: A Response to the Words and Dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation
• How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History's Greatest Poem
• Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature ... America (or at least the Republican Party)
• Leadership for a Better World: Understanding the Social Change Model of Leadership Development
• The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt
• Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir
• Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture