{"product_id":"against-the-ruins-9781475917376","title":"Against the Ruins","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn a December day in 1957, schoolteacher Louise Copeland and her six-year-old daughter, Lyra, come home to discover that Louise's gentle war-hero husband has suddenly become psychotic and has slashed his wrist with a razor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrom that moment on, everything Louise has believed in unravels. In their inner-city Southern neighborhood, situated between a cemetery and a madhouse, a place of leafy oak trees and ghosts, three other people become involved in Louise's crisis: Rosa, the scandalous divorcee who entertains men for a living; Uta, the mysterious elderly lady who casts spells; and Max, the clairvoyant gravedigger.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn 2004, as Louise is dying, her daughter returns home, and she and her mother confront how the family was torn asunder in 1957. Louise finally reveals the long-held secret that haunted the family for the next fifty years.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis poignant novel is a gripping drama of madness and prejudice in which a mother leaves her daughter, ultimately, with hope.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Linda Lightsey Rice\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Against the Ruins contains such gorgeous writing that it nearly takes your breath away, with a sense of humor and a fine appreciation of the ridiculous even amid great agony.\" \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e-Natalie Goldberg \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Rice has a fiery, incandescent talent.\" \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e-Pat Conroy\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"iUniverse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50337943912722,"sku":"9781475917376","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d0443b21-dd8c-4490-8d96-92f624e6d1db.jpg?v=1727973022","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/against-the-ruins-9781475917376","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}