Lunacy and Acts of God

In this page-turning, laugh-out-loud novel, Lunacy and Acts of God is a coming of age story set against 1950s real life events in Topeka, Kansas. With plenty of quirky, humorous characters and a compelling murder mystery, the book reflects the impact of family and community on prejudice passed through generations, marginalized peoples, our differences, similarities, and choices.

Praise for Lunacy and Acts of God:
“What a witty and wonderfully readable book! Full of laugh-out-loud scenes, Lunacy and Acts of God will keep anyone up all night to find out what happens next.”
ANNE SPRY, author of Finally Noticing: Photos and Poems Prompted by a Pandemic;
2024 President, Kansas Authors Club

“A charming and fantastical coming of age story. A young girl wrestles with the social ills of racism, mental illness, the abuses of powerful institutions and life’s many nuanced shades of gray.”
DR. KAREN BELLOWS, Former Menninger Clinic Faculty

“This fine novel tells an American story featuring characters so broken and vulnerable and horrible and redeeming and real that you’d swear they can exist only in fiction—until you realize that you know them, right now. That is the power and the humility of Ruth Maus’ debut.”
CRAIG LANCASTER, two-time High Plains Book Award winner, author of Northward Dreams
and 600 Hours of Edward

“Melody tells her story reminiscent of the young girl Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird. She listens and observes others then weaves in an unsolved murder mystery in this page-turning and engaging read.”
MICHAEL PADILLA, Mayor and lifelong resident of Topeka, Kansas

“Ruth Maus’s character, Melody, belongs in that august pantheon of American child characters founded by Mark Twain who are able to expound upon the madness of their times with a magnificent wit and wisdom so far beyond their years, you keep turning the pages.”
ANDREW FARKAS, author of The Great Indoorsman: Essays and The Big Red Herring

“A refreshing glimpse into history and human nature.”
JULIE A. SELLERS, author of Ann of Sunflower Lane and
Kansas Authors Club Prose Writer of the Year (2020, 2022, 2023)

“Follow the misadventures of Ruth Maus’s heroine as she tries to make sense of the prejudices and loving loyalties of her quirky Kansas community.”
TIM BASCOM, Director of Kansas Book Festival, author of Chameleon Days and Climbing Lessons

Ruth Maus, of Topeka, Kansas, has followed a love of learning around the world, with curiosity, languages, and an appreciation for all beings a constant thread. She represented Smith College at the annual Glasscock Intercollegiate Poetry Contest where past contestants have included James Merrill, Sylvia Plath, Katha Pollitt, Mary Jo Salter, James Agee, Frederick Buechner, Kenneth Koch, Donald Hall, William Manchester, Muriel Rukeyser, and Gjertrud Schnackenberg. Her poems have appeared in a variety of literary journals and anthologies.Her full-length poetry books Valentine and Puzzled (meadowlark-books.com), were finalists for the 2019 Birdy Poetry Prize and the 2023 High Plains Book Awards, respectively. Lunacy and Acts of God is her first novel.