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Among Ruins
- Author: Harriet Vyner
- Category: Fiction
- Publisher: Faber(UK)
- Pub date: 16 February 2006
- Length: 224 pages
About Among Ruins
Set in the 1960s and moving to the 1970s and onwards, the exquisitely observed AMONG RUINS follows the fortunes of upper-class gambler Charles Compton and his daughter Laura, whose lives contract with the loss of Kentigern Abbey, his Northumberland estate.
Having had her expectations and vision set by exposure to this legendary childhood setting and the violent abuse she suffered within its grounds, Laura embarks on a search for an echoing enlightenment that takes in an affair with an elderly London painter of note, drug addiction and prison. The novel follows her attempt to find significance and esteem, and her father’s attempts to lose his own.
About the Author
Harriet Vyner is the author of the cult book GROOVY BOB: The Life and Times of Robert Fraser. She was brought up in London, Yorkshire and Sussex. She has collaborated in a screenplay about Albert Pierrepoint, the last hangman, and worked on several projects with the musician and presenter Jools Holland, including co-authorship of the book BEAT ROUTE. She has recently been working on two documentaries – one about the art dealer Robert Fraser and the other about the painter Francis Bacon.