Emma and Julian are in their 30s and don’t know what is next in their lives. A miscarriage has shaken them both and splintered them in different directions, though the long-term couple doesn’t know that yet. So, like many well-to-do thirtysomethings, they leave their home in London and head for the sunnier climes of Greece to house-sit for a friend.
It’s there that Emma suggests shaking up their relationship by opening it to other people: she wants to watch Julian sleep with another woman. He’s hesitant but he loves her, so he goes along with it. Enter Lena, a decade-younger Greek woman Emma meets at a bar. Naturally, the interloper complicates things.
The Melbourne author Amy Taylor’s second novel is a leap forward from her debut. 2023’s Search History was a fine entry into the messy millennial fiction canon, following a woman who becomes digitally obsessed with her boyfriend’s dead ex. Ruins is, in many ways, more sophisticated. Emma and Julian are millennials, too, but a little older than the protagonist of Search History; they run in academic circles, where dinner parties are peppered with discussions of philosophy and literature, which also snake through the book itself.
A recurring motif is the Greek myth of Medea, the scorned woman who murders her own children in an act of revenge on her husband. Emma reads the play throughout the novel, as the events in her own life begin to subtly mirror the myth, at least emotionally. The constant mention of Medea grows a little irksome but ties in neatly with the novel’s setting and nods to Greek tragedy.
Lena is an effective foil for Emma, highlighting the obsession with women’s youth. In one scene at a nightclub, Emma has an epiphany when men ogle Lena and ignore her. “She was surprised, and a little disgusted with herself, that she missed the attention,” Taylor writes, comparing the male gaze to a market valuation. “It was as if her currency had lowered in value and she’d never realised.” Suddenly, the younger woman is a threat.
Julian has the opposite experience as an ageing man – “a shifting of the scales that Emma had not expected”. While at first he is reluctant to accept the new terms of his relationship, the realisation of his power, both social and sexual, twists the narrative again – Emma and Lena are quietly, unwittingly pitted against each other, while the man retains ultimate control.
Lena’s older brother, Darius, also illustrates the point, though from a more sinister angle – while at first it seems that he simply wants to protect his sister, his increasingly violent actions imply that he is more interested in her obedience and submission. This commentary on gender politics feels nuanced and cohesive – more so than the similar themes in Taylor’s debut.
Emma and Julian remain committed to each other throughout, though Lena haunts their relationship. Taylor contrasts this with blissful snapshots of the couple’s early, uncomplicated courtship and Lena’s own wishes for a simple adult life, which has only just begun before it is blown up by the affair.
All of this sits alongside the all-encompassing modern question of whether or not to have children. Emma and Julian’s seemingly perfect relationship is slowly buckling under the weight of the decision and Lena’s presence exacerbates their growing differences. Within their unique arrangement, the couple sees the possibility of exploring family life through a non-traditional lens – Taylor probes modern relationship structures as a potential solution to the issue but the overarching question still hovers like a shroud.
Above it all, the oppressive heat of the Athens summer looms large. Taylor’s descriptions of the city are evocative, from the bustling Monastiraki flea market to the old apartment buildings in which much of the action happens. The mercury rises alongside the growing tensions in an addictive crescendo – as the novel races towards a shocking denouement, it feels at once claustrophobic and urgent.
The interpersonal twists – the betrayals and revelations – do start to feel soapy. It makes sense: before Ruins was published, a screen adaptation had already been announced. Some of the big plot twists are obvious; one in particular is revealed at such a melodramatic moment that the suspension of disbelief is difficult.
But Taylor is a beautiful, sensitive writer – she imbues even the more outlandish parts of the story with care. For Emma and Julian, this bruising summer in Greece reveals more about their own inner worlds; returning to London, they must grapple with these new truths as they march, ever forward, into the great unknown of the rest of their lives.
Ruins by Amy Taylor is out now (Allen & Unwin, $32.99)
