Ruins - by Amy Taylor (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Originally published in Australia in 2025 by Allen & Unwin"--Copyright page.

Book Synopsis

A simmering, provocative novel about a couple whose affair with a young Greek woman over the course of a summer in Athens threatens to crack their relationship wide open

"The type of book you'll want to gulp down in one breathless sitting . . . A summer in Athens? Check. Millennial malaise? Check. A steamy affair that upends everything? Check. . . . Taylor mixes literary musings with juicy plot twists and plenty of interpersonal drama."--The Guardian

IN DEVELOPMENT AS A FEATURE FILM STARRING SEBASTIAN STAN AND VANESSA KIRBY

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

"A summer in Athens? Check. Millennial malaise? Check. A steamy affair that upends everything? Check. Amy Taylor's second novel has all the hallmarks of popular contemporary fiction, imbued with her signature tenderness and intelligence. . . . Taylor mixes literary musings with juicy plot twists and plenty of interpersonal drama--this is a moreish reading experience, the type of book you'll want to gulp down in one breathless sitting."--The Guardian

"Ruins is 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

"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

"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

"Amy Taylor has somehow managed to combine a darkly sexy summer page-turner and a whip-smart interrogation of class and privilege in one book. I could not put this down!"--Emily Bitto, author of The Strays

"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

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

About the Author

Amy Taylor is a writer based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is the author of Ruins and Search History, which was shortlisted for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and named as one of The Guardian's Top Australian Books of the Year. Both of her novels are currently in development to be adapted for the screen.