Another fabulous read from Phoebe Wynne! After reading Madam, I was excited to try her second book. I love the way she shaped the story, keeping you guessing who Mrs. Cosgrove is and what the terrible thing was that happened in 1985. I had several guesses as the story progressed, but was proved wrong! I’m not usually one for dark stories, but this one was a page turner!!

An absolute must-read for anyone looking for something just South of a beach read this summer! Phoebe Wynne quickly became an author to watch for me with MADAM, and THE RUINS has firmly established her as an auto-buy. A twisted family mystery and a coming-of-age story you cannot put down.

This was a really hard read. There are bad parents and then there are the parents in this book - my goodness! Ruby is almost twelve in this books and was smarter than all the adults combined. I could have done without the 2010 storyline as I don’t think it added much other than to show the lasting effects of the trauma which would have been clear without the extra timeline. While I think books like this need to be written because it is the sad reality for many, this one just didn’t work for me.

And the worst adult behavior award goes to.... This book was not my cup of tea and is mostly about dark and bad behavior than really about the Chateau.

I think this book was not for me since I really struggled to get through it. I felt like I got thrown in the middle at the beginning of the book and really lost interest since it was a bit over the top. I was hoping for that dark eerie feeling and it didn't really happen since I was so revolted by the characters.

The style of this book is mostly dialog which is fine when strong character voices are present, but this book just jumped around too much for that. I kept an open mind and finished it even though it was a bit much.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ARC for my honest review.

Staying in her parents chateau on the Cote d'Azur, Ruby is mostly neglected by her parents, who seem hellbent on winning the worst parents of the year award along with their friends. With the theme of sexual abuse, this novel is well written and sensitive to the young girls at the chateau that summer.

Too dark story of a young girl Ruby Ashby whose annual summer holiday at her patents magnificent chateau on France's Cote d'Azur turns into a summer nightmare. The men who accompany their families as guests at the chateaux this particular summer are sleazy drinkers, gamblers and child predators. Ruby spends the time trying to protect her friends from the men who keep seeking them out.
A back and forth telling of the story of that summer and Ruby back in 1985 and the present, with the chateau for sale and 2 buyers, from that summner, competing for the purchase.
Extremely gothic-ish and not at all my cup of tea.

Every summer there’s at least one novel written in the long shadow cast by the late American author Patricia Highsmith, and this is it. But the flavour of psychological suspense from French-British national Wynne (who wrote the throwback Gothic hit Madam) should also come with a content warning, given that it borrows from recent trauma fiction like the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St. Aubyn. Hedonist parents behaving badly, predatory men and vulnerable young girls populate the summer of 1985 as several posh British families summer together at a château on the Côte d’Azur and it doesn’t euphemize the childhood sexual abuse set among the well to do.

Included this title in the July instalment of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer magazine.

This book was just sort of OK for me. I think what this book is trying to say is that to be a young girl, to be a girl in general, is to just face violence constantly but I feel like even if it does say that it never actually has a point for saying it. The main focus of this for me should've been how brutal the summer was for the main two girls - Imogen and Ruby, and even to an extent Annie - but more often than not I was forced into reading these passages upon passages about the dads who were pretty much indistinguishable from one another in terms of importance, characterization and attitude toward every other character. This was just an infuriating read for me, and a pretty obvious thriller where the outcome didn't even make me feel vindicated.

The story is set in two different time periods and is also set in a French Chateau during one unfortunate summer. We see the story through the eyes of Ruby, a preteen girl whose parents own the chateau. Friends and other uninvited guest come to the chateau. The parents of Ruby and the other young girls are too self absorbed to pay attention to the young girls and the danger of older strangers. The adults are so irritating and frustrating, I wanted to be the one the girls turn to, if they could. One of the girls from that summer wants to buy the chateau decades later. Even with the bad memories that occurred that summer lingers in the air. It also shows us that the wealthy can buy almost anything, including silence. But, it can’t heal wounds. This is an emotional and haunting read.

“Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review”

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an advance copy of Phoebe Wynne's The Ruins.

I have to say, there was not a single character in this book that i liked. Not one. But still, i could not put it down.

This novel, although taking place in the 80s and aughts, seems like something that happened in the 50s. Nearly every adult character was a terrible person. The abuse that went on right under parents noses, was appalling. Although the story ticked along, it's probably pretty triggering for people that have endured any kind of abuse from trusted adults.
The Ashbys have a chateau in the south of France. But the houseguests of the Ashbys seem to wear out their welcome, causing Mr. Ashby to make deals with the police and local magistrates in hopes of "no scandal" following anyone around. There are so many secrets and lies and twists and turns and finally, a murder, but it's almost anticlimactic because there was just so much horribleness occurring throughout the novel. You wonder why any of these characters had children.

*Special thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this e-arc.*

“Ruins” by Phoebe Wynne is a dark adult novel that takes readers into a world of manipulation, abuse, power imbalances, and wealth. It reads like a coming-of-age novel with sinister undertones of the gothic and dark academia, a perfect mix of innocence and wicked immorality. This emotionally intense tale will shock, intrigue, and disturb readers.

Ruby expected a normal paradisical summer vacation at her family’s house in France. Days by the sea, swimming in the pool, reading, the list of things she can do is endless. All of those plans change when unexpected visitors arrive at the Chateau, causing tension and chaos to descend on their seemingly pleasant home. One thing is clear to Ruby: if these guests remain in her home, then bad and unspeakable things will happen.

Years later, a widowed woman is looking to purchase the Chateau, but she has competition from someone who also has a close connection to the abandoned home. A battle of desperation, wits, and manipulation ensues as the two vie for the fate of the Chateau and its awful legacy.

After finishing this novel, readers will be left speechless. There is a lot to unpack and a lot of content warnings to be aware of, which says a lot about the nature of this book and its themes. While there are a lot of tough, uncomfortable moments to plunge through, Wynne expertly demonstrates the psychological and emotional impact these adults have on the children in the book and how quickly things can escalate in circumstances where there is no support or aid.

One unique aspect to highlight in this book is the inclusion of Greek myths, specifically popular myths in which the violence done against women by heroic figures went ignored by everyone except by the women spurned who rose up against the in vengeance. These powerful, often hated women become symbolic and influential figures to the girls in this story who find themselves in helpless, vulnerable positions. It’s a beautiful yet tragic comparison of a timeless abuse and how so much pain can cause someone to do unthinkable things to find freedom.

It did feel as though the plot was missing as a lot of the story centers around the disruption these visitors cause and the malicious, violent recklessness the adults have toward each other, the outsiders, and their children. Really, the plot of why these unwanted visitors even came to the Chateau gets buried under the deluge of hostility that occurs in this environment. Without a clear goal of where the story is headed can make it a bit of a slow read. This may be a difficult story for readers who are easily triggered by the content and who enjoy a clear, focused story that revolves around the plot rather than the psychological effects of an unhealthy environment.

“The Ruins” by Phoebe Wynne is a powerful, deceptive, and disturbing follow-up to her novel “Madam” that will no doubt send shockwaves through readers as they are consumed by Ruby’s tale and the events that took place during the summer. Readers who enjoy psychological thrillers must be on the lookout for Wynne’s newest novel on its expected publication date of July 05th, 2022.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for inviting me to read a free e-arc of this novel and for the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.

Unfortunately this one was not for me. Characters completely unlikeable and super confusing from page 1. Might be for others, but this one was not for me. Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this one.

I loved Ms. Wynne’s debut novel, Madam, and I was happy to read her new book. The story mainly takes place in the beautiful French Riviera in 1985, at a family chateau during summer. It is a coming of age story featuring Ruby, whose family owns the château, and about adults behaving disturbingly badly. I found this book to be quite disturbing and offer a trigger warning about pervasive sexual abuse of young girls.

*3-3.5 stars. The story begins in 1985 at a chateau in Provence, France, owned by the Ashby family of England. They have several friends visiting for the summer--old school chums who have brought along their families as well as their past grievances.

The story is told mainly from the point of view of the Ashby's daughter, Ruby, who is just turning twelve. She is frightfully neglected by her parents, pretty much ignored except to be scolded and disciplined. Ruby is aware of the dangerous undertones that summer, many of them sexual, but is too young to completely understand the adult interactions. There are three other young girls there that summer, all on the cusp of womanhood and attracting some unwanted attention with their budding figures. Their parents seem blissfully unaware--or is it they just don't care? Is there anyone a girl can turn to for protection?

Suddenly the story shifts to 2010. The chateau is up for sale and one of those young girls from that summer, now a recent widow, has come back to buy it. She finds she has competition from a man who is investigating what truly happened that long ago summer.

As the author notes at the beginning of her book, the theme of the story is the emotional and sexual abuse of young girls--'the darkest moments of the female experience.' But the story also delves into how the wealthy class finds ways to cover up their crimes.

The story is atmospheric and creepy. The chateau on the sea was once magnificent but is now deteriorating from the lack of the funds for upkeep, as these old friendships are also crumbling. Because the story is told by a confused child, it is clouded by innuendo. Obviously the story would have ended differently if Ruby had had loving, doting parents, someone she could have turned to. Shameful!

I received an arc of this new novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to them for the opportunity. Two thumbs up for the lovely cover art.

"The Ruins" by Phoebe Wynne was not what I was expecting at all-but I enjoyed it all the same. Ms. Wynne certainly knows how to create a tense and foreboding atmosphere with her words! At points, I was tempted to look ahead just to ease some of the tension! It's definitely not a light read by any stretch of the word, and probably should come with trigger warnings about child sexual assault and pedophilia. I was deeply disturbed by some of the contents of this book, a credit to the author for making the characters come alive so vividly that I cared about them! All of the adults in the story are simply awful people and so the ending was very satisfying, thought a bit abrupt, to me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The story line is what originally caught my eye, it’s so intriguing! I think that overall, this book is well-written and one of a kind. It was engaging most of the time, the characters were interesting and a few of the decisions took me by surprise.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 6, 2022
Ruby Ashby is excited to be returning to her parents’ estate in France, but this year a slew of unexpected (and not particularly welcome ) guests are out to ruin Ruby’s summer. Not only is she forced to share a room with two girls, Imogen and Annie, neither of whom she really knows, but her favourite place is filled to the brim with bickering adults full of smoldering tension. Ruby’s father can’t ask them to leave, for reasons Ruby doesn’t yet know, and just when Ruby thinks it’s over, a life-changing event occurs and soon, all of them are tied together with secrets and lies.
Phoebe Wynne’s debut novel, “Madam”, was a delight for me and I was beyond excited to receive her newest novel, “The Ruins”. A gothic, coming-of-age novel of suspense, I enjoyed the deliciously lavish French estate and its glamorous setting, but the rest of the novel was something more mediocre than I was expecting.
The novel is told in two time periods, in 1985 when Ruby is going on twelve and she is spending the summer at her French estate, and in 2010 when a woman (identified in the story at first only as “Mrs. Cosgrove”) returns to France in hopes of purchasing the long-abandoned estate, and recalls her memories of the tragedy that happened there.
Right off the bat, the plotline seemed anachronistic to me. The story was set in the last forty years, but it felt like something from the Victorian era. The guests, and obviously the owners, of the French estate were uber wealthy, but even taking this into consideration it felt a little out of place. The elaborate clothing required for every day (not just dinners), that had all of the females in full dresses and skirts ALL THE TIME and the only modern day convenience that was ever mentioned was a DVD player and television set. It had a Great Gatsby vibe, but the story lost Fitzgerald’s charm when it entered the twentieth century. This was a tale destined for eras long ago, and I wish Wynne had made this happen.
Ruby was a little firecracker of a character, and I adored her immensely, although her parents (and the parents of all of the other girls in the chateau at the time) were desperately lacking and inattentive, leading to the traumatic events that happen when young, preteen girls are left unsupervised around perverted old men. The only characters worth their salt, excluding Ruby, was terribly naive Annie, oblivious Liv and sassy Imogen.
I enjoyed the end of this novel, but parts in the middle had me scrambling to find a reason to finish it. I was glad to make it to the end, though, and felt a sense of satisfaction in the ending itself. Although a decidedly readable novel, “The Ruins” fell short of my expectations.

A rare pass from me because this is just unpleasant. Sadly, not unrealistic, but not an enjoyable read. Its summer 1985 and Ruby is on the Côte d'Azur with her parents when other c0uples arrive with their daughters. There's a lot of inappropriate behavior- horrible behavior toward the girls- and then there's an accident. One of the women returns years later, now a widow, to buy the villa. Why? I felt for Ruby being in the middle of this mess. A mess of bad, absent parenting, a mess of abuse, and a mess of alcohol. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Sorry but I just can't recommend.

Stopped at 33%.
… The beginning was intriguing—a couple who had maybe killed someone by accident, maybe not. But this was brushed aside quickly and instead I was left reading a story about truly horrible adults who are emotionally abusive to their kids and are extremely creepy/predatory towards other people’s children. Whatever mystery that was hinted at quickly evaporated and there isn’t much to make this worth reading, honestly. The narration is rather simple and doesn’t add any compelling reason to why the narrative has turned in this direction. And I smell hints of further child abuse, based on other reviews and what this story has looked like. Not really the gothic story I expected or want.