A Fur-Covered Woman's Dark Gift Transforms Lives in Weil ich Ruth bin
Julia Weber's novel Weil ich Ruth bin follows a young woman with extraordinary powers. Ruth returns to her childhood village, carrying the weight of a painful family history and a body that once bore thick fur. Her abilities—both unsettling and liberating—draw people to her door, desperate for change.
Ruth's life begins unusually: born covered in fur, she sheds it as she grows into womanhood. Her powers emerge as both a gift and a burden. With a touch or a kiss, she can turn people into animals—temporarily freeing them from their struggles. Her first act is transforming her best friend Lu into an earthworm, fulfilling Lu's wish to escape her rigid, unyielding life.
Later, at a bus stop, Ruth meets a weary man and turns him into a robin. He takes flight, leaving his troubles behind. Word spreads, and soon strangers queue outside her home, undressing and pleading for transformation. But Ruth's abilities extend beyond this: she can fling people across rooms without laying a finger on them.
Weber's writing crackles with dark humour and vivid detail. The novel shifts between third-person narration and intimate second-person passages, digging into Ruth's anger, vanity, and helplessness. Her past is marked by patriarchal violence—threats and beatings from a man named Jakob—and a sense of being trapped. These experiences shape her into an ambivalent figure, sometimes acting as a vigilante, other times offering fleeting freedom to those who seek her out.
The story's momentum slows in the middle, yet Weber's sharp prose and magical premise keep it gripping. Ruth's journey becomes a defiant confrontation with the world, resisting oppression while searching for her own place within it.
Ruth's powers challenge the boundaries of human suffering and escape. The novel leaves her standing between vengeance and liberation, her actions sparking both awe and unease. Through her, Weber explores the raw edges of pain, transformation, and the desperate longing to escape.
