The Ruins
escape with this sun-drenched slice of summer suspense
-
- CHF 2.50
-
- CHF 2.50
Beschreibung des Verlags
'I loved this novel' SARAH PEARSE, bestselling author of The Sanatorium
'Rippling with suspense' VICTORIA SELMAN, author of Truly, Darkly, Deeply
'Haunting at its core' SHEA ERNSHAW, author of The Wicked Deep
BEHIND EVERY STRONG WOMAN IS A GIRL WHO SURVIVED. . .
Summer, 1985: Ruby has stayed at the chateau with her family every summer since she can remember. It was her favourite place to be, but this year uninvited guests have descended, and everything is about to change. . .
As the intense August heat cloaks the chateau, the adults within start to lose sight of themselves, and darkness begins to creep around them. With the summer spiralling out of control, Ruby and her two young friends soon discover it is best not to be seen or heard until, one fateful night, an incident occurs that can never be undone. . .
Summer, 2010: One of the three young girls, now grown and newly widowed, returns to the chateau. In her fight to free herself from its grip, she uncovers what truly happened that long, dark summer.
The Ruins is a dark and suspenseful tale of control, and the women determined to fight back.
~*~ WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE RUINS ~*~
"Dark and compelling"
"I couldn't stop reading it. . . I wanted justice"
"A dark, disturbing and gripping read"
"Unnerving, tense and compelling"
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Against the backdrop of an aging French chateau, Wynne (Madam) offers the dark and befuddling tale of a group of English girls in the summer of 1985, one of whom revisits the scene 25 years later when the chateau is up for sale. Ruby Ashby, nearly 12, awaits another idyllic summer in her family's vacation manse when three university friends of her father Toby arrive with their daughters, and things go awry. The girls are bombarded with lascivious remarks by the two men—one crosses a line by coercing Ruby to sit on his lap, another gropes her. Tension ratchets up when Toby's former university love arrives with her provocative 17-year-old daughter, Ned, who has a penchant for Latin classics and likens the chateau's male guests to different classical characters. Wynne packs the plot with jealousies, class rivalries, emotional and physical abuse, and accidental deaths—not to mention the endless sparring amongst the former university colleagues. One of the girls from the fateful summer returns in 2010 as a widow considering purchasing the chateau, but her identity is hidden until late in the book, a decision that comes off as frustrating rather than suspenseful. The author then cobbles together a perplexing ending, further derailing the promising premise. This confused coming-of-age story misses the mark.
