The Magnificent Ruins

In this ＂rare feast＂ of a novel, a young Indian American book editor inherits her estranged family’s ancestral home-and their long-buried secrets (Rachel Lyon, author of Self-Portrait With Boy).

It is the summer of 2015, and Lila De is on the verge of a breakthrough in her career at a prestigious New York publishing house. But when she gets a call from her mother in India, informing her that she’s inherited her family’s sprawling estate, she must confront the legacy of an extended family that she thought she left behind sixteen years ago.  

Returning to Kolkata reunites Lila with her mother after a decade of estrangement, and then there are her grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of whom still live in the house, all of whom resent her sudden inheritance. To make matters more complicated, her first boyfriend seeks her out when she arrives, and her star author--and occasional lover--is suddenly determined to make things serious.   

As Lila tries to come to terms with both past and present, long-suppressed secrets from her family emerge, culminating in an act of shocking violence, and she must finally reckon with her inherited custom of keeping everything under the surface. 

Wise, witty, and deeply moving, The Magnificent Ruins is an utterly addictive read and a stunning debut. 

Nayantara Roy is a television executive at STARZ/ Lionsgate, where she oversees the acquisition and creative development of original scripted television series. Prior to STARZ, she worked at Endeavor Content series (Normal People, Nine Perfect Strangers) and at AGBO, Joe and Anthony Russo’s television studio. In 2018, Tara won the Rick Demarinis Short Story Prize for her short story, 8C. Originally from India, she is a 2020 alumni of the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacific Executives in Entertainment) Leaders Program and at STARZ, is a jury member of the STARZ #TakeTheLead director’s program, which is designed to create more directing opportunities for women and people of color. Her plays have been performed internationally, including at Prithvi Theater in Mumbai, India and Contact Theater, Manchester, UK. She lives in Silverlake, Los Angeles.