Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Porto Vergogna is an all but unknown port where there is a community of fisherman and their families who live in a dozen or so houses that cling to the cliff face along the shore and, surprisingly, a single hotel with only an occasional client. In 1962, when an ailing American actress arrives unexpectedly by boat (the only way to arrive at Porto Vergogna), Pasquale, whose family owns the hotel, is smitten and does his very best to get to the bottom of what ails the young actress. The task involves getting in touch with the Hollywood people who are working at the Roman film set for “Cleopatra,” a set the actress was also working on until she became ill.

The story leaps back and forth through time from 1962 to near-current as the tale unfolds from both ends, and the reader sees from the points-of-view of a few different main characters in various locales that include Italy, Hollywood, the Pacific Northwest, Scotland, and England.

I loved this book of historical and literary fiction. The writing, the story, the characters and locales. It was intricate, complicated, nuanced, and beautiful.

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