'Glorious. I was utterly absorbed' Reader Review ★★★★★

'Emotional. Life-affirming. An absolute tour de force' Reader Review ★★★★★

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1937. Seven-year-old Lucie has just arrived in England. She knows nothing of the crumbling ancestral manor she will soon call home, or of the eccentric, distant relatives who are taking her in. She knows only that her mother has gone – onto a train, across an ocean, back to Malaya.

In the years that follow, Lucie will tread a precarious path into her future. From wartime Devon to sun-soaked Ceylon, through love and friendship, grief and heartbreak, she will slowly piece together the story of the family she lost – and discover, in the ruins of everything she thought she knew, the person she was always meant to be.

The Ruins is a sweeping, tender debut about coming of age, forging identity, and the long, complicated search for home – spanning decades and continents.

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'Elegant and exacting, beautifully cataloguing Lucie's moods and feelings as her fractured family history takes its toll' Daily Mail

'A powerful new voice in fiction' Woman's Own

'A glorious sweeping debut… this novel feels like a big bold adventure' Platinum

'A richly woven book, written with the assurance of a seasoned storyteller' The Historical Novel Society

'A sweeping debut' FABULOUS

'Impressive. A poignant and propulsive tale' The Courier