The gorgeous cover of Beautiful Ruins will find a reader dreaming of the Italian coastline and the story only adds to that reverie. The novel opens with an innkeeper attempting to create a sandy haven on his rocky beach and then a beautiful American actress appears before him requesting a room in his small hotel. We then fast forward to Hollywood where we meet a young man and woman who are each experiencing their own mid-life and mid-career crises. As the story goes back and forth between 1962 and present day, Jess Walter manages to connect all of these different tales & perspectives into one beautiful story about love, loss, and the choices we make.
Want more great Summer Reads? Try…
- Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon – Read our review!
- A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson
- Overseas by Beatriz Williams
- Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
- Furious Love by Sam Kashner & Nancy Schoenberger
