Beautiful Ruins (Jess Walter)

A novel that follows a young Italian innkeeper and his almost-love affair with a beautiful American starlet. It begins on the Italian coast in 1962 and resurfaces fifty years later in Hollywood, drawing him into a glittering world filled with unforgettable characters. 

From the lavish set of Cleopatra to the shabby revelry of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to the back lots of contemporary Hollywood, this is a dazzling, yet deeply human roller coaster of a novel, a story of flawed yet fascinating people navigating the rocky shores of their lives while clinging to their improbable dreams.

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