Beautiful Ruins - Softcover

"Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece."--Richard Russo, author of That Old Cape Magic and Empire Falls

"A novel shot in sparkly Technicolor. . . . reimagines history in a package so appealing we'd be idiots not to buy it."--Library Journal (starred review)

"Well-constructed...quirky and entertaining tale of greed, treachery, and love."--"Publishers Weekly"

"[N]othing less than brilliant, a tour de force that crosses decades, continents, and genres, to powerful and often hilarious effect....A masterful novel of love, loss, and hard-won hope that satisfies on every level."--Ben Fountain, author of "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk"

"Within a page-turner of a plot, these triumphantly vulnerable characters leap off the page to take up permanent residence in your inner life. The effect is so powerful that to be untouched by "Beautiful Ruins" might well be like having no inner life at all."--Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of "36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction"

"A brilliant, madcap meditation on fate. . . . Walter's prose is a joy-funny, brash, witty and rich with ironic twists. He's taken all of the tricks of the postmodern novel and scoured out the cynicism, making for a novel that's life-affirming but never saccharine."--"Kirkus Reviews" (starred review)

"A marvel, an absolute gem of a beach read that is both hilarious and heartbreaking."--Huffington Post

"Walter vividly draws a world both tender and cutthroat, where ambition battles reality, daydreams fight doldrums and sometimes win."--"Interview"

"Lyrical, heartbreaking, and funny . . . Walter closes the deal with such command that you begin to wonder why up till now he's not often been mentioned as one of the best novelists around. "Beautiful Ruins" might just correct that oversight."--"Kansas City Star"

"A monument to crazy love . . . Walter [is] a believer in capricious destiny with a fine, freewheeling sense of humor."--"New York Times"

The award-winning author of The Financial Lives of the Poets presents his most romantic and enjoyable novel yet that follows a young Italian innkeeper and his almost-love affair with a beautiful American starlet, which draws him into a glittering world filled with unforgettable characters. Reprint. 100,000 first printing.