The gorgeous, glamorous u003ciu003eNew York Timesu003c/iu003e bestseller set in 1960s Italy and modern-day Hollywood - now a Penguin Essentialu003cbru003e u003cbru003e The story begins on the Italian coast in 1962. A young innkeeper watches in disbelief as a beautiful American girl gets out of a boat and climbs towards his hotel. She turns out to be an actress, on the run from the shenanigans going on down the coast in Rome at the filming of u003ciu003eCleopatra.u003c/iu003e A few days later international star Richard Burton, much the worse for wear, appears in the village too.u003cbru003e u003cbru003e Half a century later, and half a world away in Hollywood, an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot - searching for the woman he last saw in his hotel fifty years before.u003cbru003e u003cbru003e What unfolds is a dazzling novel teeming with unforgettable characters- the Italian and his long-lost love; the heroically cynical film producer who first brought them together, now a successful legend on the Hollywood scene, and his idealistic young assistant; and the husbands, wives and lovers, superstars and victims, who have populated their world since that summer day in 1962.u003cbru003e u003cbru003e Gloriously inventive, filled with surprises, u003ciu003eBeautiful Ruinsu003c/iu003e is a magnificent novel about love and fame, dreams and reality.
