The Ruins of Us

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

More than two decades after moving to Saudi Arabia and marrying Abdullah Baylani, Rosalie learns that her husband has married a second wife. The discovery plunges the powerful family into chaos as Rosalie grapples with leaving Saudi Arabia, her life and her family behind.

Abdullah and Rosalie's consuming personal entanglements also blind them to the crisis approaching their sixteen-year-old son Faisal, whose deepening resentment towards their lifestyle has led to his involvement with a controversial sheikh. When Faisal makes a choice that could destroy everything his family holds dear, all must confront difficult truths as they fight to preserve what remains of their love.

Reviews

"Extraordinarily polished, supremely mature."--"St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
"An intelligent, complex story of interfaith marriage. . . . That balances nail-biting tension with lyrical intent."--"The Guardian"
"Having been brought up in Saudi Arabia, [Parssinen] knows the background and writes boldly and unsentimentally of a family's predicament at the edge of cultural fault lines."--"Sunday Times" (London)
"[Parssinen] digs deep in this narrative, and what she unearths is exquisitely wrought."--"Columbia Daily Tribune"
"Absorbing. . . . A testament to Parssinen's literary talent, this woven narrative moves seamlessly, chapter by chapter, as the suspenseful story escalates."--"Boston Globe"
"Extraordinary polished, supremely mature."--"St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
"Keija Parssinen was a third-generation expat in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, and she summons its atmosphere of fraught privilege in her debut novel, "The Ruins of Us"."--T: The New York Times Style Magazine
"Keija Parssinen vividly evokes daily reality in the Kingdom. . . . While she portrays the physical and social landscapes with the precision of an impassioned expat, Parssinen also limns-with a wisdom that belies her age-the culture-transcending contours of the human heart."--"National Geographic Traveler"
"A compelling debut."--"Marie Claire" (UK)
""The Ruins of Us" is a stunning debut novel--a love story that spans continents. Parssinen teaches us that while cultural differences run deep, when it comes to matters of the heart, we are all the same. I was dazzled by this book."--Amanda Eyre Ward, author of "Close Your Eyes"
"A big, brave novel, Keija Parssinen's THE RUINS OF US takes us behind the compound walls of Saudi Arabia and into the secret passions that threaten to tear one family apart. Step into Parssinen's sensual prose and be transported."--Anna Solomon, author of "The Little Bride"
"Parssinen carries the reader . . . in the grip of a story that is both entertaining and wise. . . . The debut of an enormously talented writer who is unafraid to lead us on the greatest adventure of all--into the wilds of the human heart."--Lise Saffran, author of "Juno's Daughters"
"Parssinen convincingly inhabits the shifting moods of her characters. . . . Throughout, her prose is artful without being showy, forced, or melodramatic, and her knowledge of Saudi culture informs the story. . . . A fine debut."--"Kirkus Reviews"
"Parssinen's gripping, well-crafted debut tracks the awakening of a Saudi Arabian family to the dangers that lurk within. . . . Parssinen deftly illuminates Saudi Arabian life through a family locked in a battle over morality and cultural chasms."--"Publishers Weekly"
"THE RUINS OF US is an arresting story of family and country. Parssinen's characters are richly conceived and her evocative petrol universe of wealth, privilege, and intrigue is unforgettable. Powerful storytelling that is refreshing and entertaining."--Anthony Swofford, author of "Jarhead"
"THE RUINS OF US tells a gripping story about Saudi Arabian princes and bureaucrats, wives and extra-wives, sons and daughters, fanatics and exiles. . . . [Keija Parssinen] directs the human and historical traffic with a maestro's sense of pace, and a true storyteller's sense of consequence."--Scott Spencer, author of "Man in the Woods"

Author Bio

Keija Parssinen was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there for twelve years as a third generation expatriate. She earned a degree in English literature from Princeton University and received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she held a Truman Capote fellowship and a Teaching and Writing fellowship. For The Ruins of Us, her first novel, she received a Michener-Copernicus award. She lives with her husband on the edge of a quarry in Columbia, Missouri.