Lunacy and Acts of God
Novels
By:
Ruth Maus
Lunacy and Acts of God is a sharply funny, deeply humane coming-of-age novel set in 1950s Topeka, Kansas—a town brimming with secrets, contradictions, and unforgettable characters.
At its heart is Melody, a keen-eyed young girl who listens more than she speaks and notices what others would rather ignore. As she navigates family loyalties, eccentric neighbors, and the rigid expectations of her community, Melody begins to uncover the fault lines beneath small-town respectability: inherited prejudice, racism, mental illness, and the quiet damage caused by powerful institutions. When an unsolved murder seeps into her daily life, curiosity turns to reckoning, and Melody is forced to confront the uncomfortable truths that shape both her town and herself.
Lunacy and Acts of God blends whimsical storytelling with moral gravity. Its cast of broken, tender, exasperating, and redeeming characters feels startlingly real—people you might swear you know, because in some way, you do. With wit, compassion, and a fearless eye for hypocrisy and grace, the novel explores how families and communities pass down beliefs across generations—and how one observant child might begin to question them. An engaging, page-turning story about growing up, seeing clearly, and choosing who you will become in a world that rarely offers simple answers.
“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, 2024 President, Kansas Authors Club and author of Finally Noticing: Photos & Poems Prompted by a Pandemic
“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
“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
“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