The Ruins

A stunning and uplifting debut from a powerful new voice, perfect for fans of Alice Winn and Clare Chambers

1937. At a Devon railway station, seven-year-old Lucie Ingram’s world changes for ever. Left by her mother, Ruth, Lucie is bewildered to be handed over to an unknown relative. Raised in sun-soaked British Malaya, Lucie has been brought back to England to attend school. During the holidays, she will stay with a distant cousin, Clifford, and his wife, Enid, at The Ruins, their rambling ancestral home.

Life at The Ruins couldn’t be more different from everything Lucie knows. Enid makes disparaging comments about Ruth, and Lucie must navigate a path between her eccentric new home and the mysteries of English boarding school. As the Second World War casts a shadow over her life, Lucie is sustained by the hope her mother will return, clinging to the rare sketchy postcards which appear. When news arrives that Ruth has had a baby, Lucie is thrilled to think she finally has a much-longed for sister. And then the postcards stop.

In the aftermath of a war which has torn apart every corner of the world, Lucie is determined that somehow she will find her way back to her family, and above all the sister she has never met. Her search for connection will lead her to unexpected places – both within herself and in the world around her.

Becky Docton’s remarkable debut is a deeply compelling and moving story of a young woman’s search for her family, spanning decades and continents.