Beautiful Ruins

Pasquale's village, Porto Vergogna, is so small that it can only be reached by boat, and his Hotel Adequate View has almost no guests. Dee Moray, the actress, waits there for a man who is supposed to meet her, and Pasquale is enchanted by her. Their time together is short, but it shapes both their lives. In the present day, the elderly Pasquale arrives at the office of Michael Deane, a once-legendary film producer whose face has been altered by too much cosmetic surgery, and asks for help finding Dee.

Walter moves between decades and characters: Claire, Deane's assistant, who dreams of making meaningful films; Shane, a struggling writer pitching a strange historical movie; Pat, Dee's son, a musician who keeps sabotaging his own success; and even Richard Burton, the famous actor, who appears during the making of Cleopatra. The novel uses different forms, including a film pitch, a chapter of a memoir and a play, and gradually reveals how a lie told decades ago changed everyone's path. It is funny and sharp about fame, but also tender and moving.

Charming, clever and moving. About 368 pages in the Harper Perennial paperback.