Ruins of time

The year is 1962. On a rocky stretch of the Italian coast, a young hotel owner gazes out over the glowing waters of the Ligurian Sea and sees an apparition: a beautiful woman approaching in a boat. He then discovers that she is an actress, an American star, and that she is dying. The story jumps ahead and picks up in the present day, half a world away, when an elderly Italian appears at a film studio searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades ago. What unfolds from there is a dazzling and deeply human novel, spanning fifty years and several lifetimes. From the filming of Cleopatra to the hustle and bustle of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the author introduces us to the tangled lives of a dozen unforgettable characters: the passionate Italian hotel owner and his missing love; the savvy producer who once brought them together and his young, idealistic assistant; Army veteran turned writer and libertine Richard Burton, whose whims drive the entire narrative—alongside the lovers and dreamers, celebrities and losers who populate the world in the decades that follow. Gloriously inventive and always surprising, Ruins of Time is a story of imperfect but fascinating people navigating life's rocky shores while clinging to improbable dreams.