Beautiful Ruins

Beautiful Ruins (2012) by Jess Walter. The story begins in 1962, when Pasquale Tursi, a young Italian, catches his first glimpse of Dee Moray, an American actress who is in Italy for the filming of "Cleopatra." He is immediately and forever captivated. Dee Moray, real name Debra Moore, thinks she is dying. She comes to Tursi's Hotel Adequate View because she has been sent there by the evil Michael Deane, who is trying to get the movie Cleopatra produced and doesn't want to burden Richard Burton with the fact that he has gotten Dee Moray pregnant. This is just the framework for the novel, a beautifully written and conceived work about lost love and the movie business. The book jumps around in time, from 1962 to the present, but never loses the reader. I found it to be a most enjoyable read. Grade: A-