Ruins - by Amy Taylor (Hardcover)

About the Book

"At a crossroads in their lives, a couple arrives in Greece to house-sit for a friend. Emma is searching for a meaningful next step beyond work or starting a family, and Julian is struggling to come to terms with the failure of his academic career. Their visions for the future seem to be pulling them in different directions, and they hope that this summer away will help them mend their frayed connection. Emma and Julian's plans take an unexpected turn when they meet Lena, an enigmatic young Greek woman who presents an opportunity for them to explore their relationship in uncharted and excitingly risky ways. However, as the heat in the city grows stifling, Emma and Julian find themselves far more entangled in Lena's life than they'd bargained for. Engaged in a three-way struggle for control, Emma, Julian, and Lena are suddenly faced with consequences far greater-and far more explosive-than they could have predicted. Voyeuristic and thrilling, Ruins delivers the drama of a modern Greek tragedy while exposing the tensions between privilege and power, desire and intimacy"--

Book Synopsis

Three lives, one summer, and an affair that will unravel everything

At a crossroads in their lives, a couple arrives in Greece to house-sit for a friend. Emma is searching for a meaningful next step beyond work or starting a family, and Julian is struggling to come to terms with the failure of his academic career. Their visions for the future seem to be pulling them in different directions, and they hope that this summer away will help them mend their frayed connection.

Emma and Julian's plans take an unexpected turn when they meet Lena, an enigmatic young Greek woman who presents an opportunity for them to explore their relationship in uncharted and excitingly risky ways. However, as the heat in the city grows stifling, Emma and Julian find themselves far more entangled in Lena's life than they'd bargained for. Engaged in a three-way struggle for control, Emma, Julian, and Lena are suddenly faced with consequences far greater--and far more explosive--than they could have predicted.

Voyeuristic and thrilling, Ruins delivers the drama of a modern Greek tragedy while exposing the tensions between privilege and power, desire and intimacy.

Review Quotes

"Wow! Amy Taylor has somehow managed to combine both a whip-smart interrogation of class and privilege and a darkly sexy summer page-turner in one book. I'm not sure how she pulled it off, but I'm impressed. I could not put this down!"--Emily Bitto, author of The Strays

"Compelling, daring, and darkly atmospheric, Ruins delivers a riveting, dramatic performance to match its scorching Athenian setting."--Katherine Brabon, author of Body Friend

"Reading this book felt like watching a train wreck in slow motion, which I mean as the highest possible compliment. I loved Amy Taylor's debut, Search History. Ruins has cemented her as an author whose every book I will read."--Allee Richards, author of A Light in the Dark

"Ruins is a sensory feast. Thrilling, yet overwhelmingly human, it's the kind of book you can't help but eat up in one sitting. Amy Taylor is at the top of her game."--Chloe Elisabeth Wilson, author of Rytual

"An atmospheric, deftly paced novel of longing, lust, and ill-fated adventure, offering a compelling portrait of a couple straining under the mounting pressure of competing visions of the future." Ruby Todd, author of Bright Objects.--Ruby Todd, author of Bright Objects

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave! That could be the epigraph for Amy Taylor's blistering new novel about a married couple that gets more than they bargained for when they invite an alluring young woman into their relationship. It's a tangled web that keeps you turning pages, reading with your heart in your throat as you extrapolate the many (many) ways things could--and do--go wrong."--Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year

About the Author

Amy Taylor is a writer based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is the author of Search History, which was shortlisted for the Readings Prize for New Fiction and named as one of the Guardian's Top Australian Books for 2023.