Description

A WATERSTONES ‘BEST BIOGRAPHY OF 2025’
AN iPAPER BEST NEW BOOK OUT IN AUGUST 2025

‘Beautifully written and deeply moving’ CLARE BALDING
‘An important voice’ CATHY RENTZENBRINK
‘I devoured it in a day . . . An open-hearted book’ CLOVER STROUD

In a remote Andalusian valley, Manni Coe sets out to rebuild a crumbling 150-year-old farmhouse. Surrounded by olive trees and on the banks of a river, it’s the perfect home for his unconventional family of three.

But when visitors from across the river bring tragedy, they lay bare Manni’s own fragile foundations. As family bonds are tested and old wounds resurface, the rhythms of Southern Spain’s land, weather and work offer unexpected healing. Tender and quietly joyful, this is a heart-mending book about human connection, nature’s gifts and the power of love in all its forms.

Publisher Review

Little Ruins is beautifully written and deeply moving. The power of Manni’s story and the depth of his soul will stay with you long after you’ve read the final chapter — CLARE BALDING I loved this book so much and devoured it in a day. All of life is contained in its beautiful story of love and grief, addiction and recovery, despair and redemption. An open-hearted book that I found deeply consoling — CLOVER STROUD Manni Coe is not only a beautiful human being and writer but also an important voice on trauma — CATHY RENTZENBRINK From the author of brother. do. you. love. me. comes an account of his move to a remote farmstead in Andalusia, where he finally confronts his past traumas. It might be hard to read, but it is also hard to forget * * iNews * * Evocative and moving * * Daily Mail * * A love letter to Andalusia, not just a memoir of a man facing his pain — SOPHY ROBERTS Little Ruins is a brave and timely book about how buried memories from Manni’s past threatened to undermine the new life he was building in Spain. This is a moving memoir that tackles difficult subjects with compassion, humour and courage — JOANNA QUINN “We live in a world of beauty and brutality and there, in the balance, am I,” writes Manni Coe in his expansive and luminescent memoir. He takes his readers from the rugged landscapes of Andalusia to the painful recesses of lingering traumas. Deeply intimate and told with generous observation, his writing thrums with glorious verve. At its core, Little Ruins is a rallying cry for living a life truly connected to the land and within community — ANDRES N. ORDORICA Manni Coe’s Little Ruins is many things: chief among which is a memoir of place, that marks trauma and evokes language alongside love and limitation. It is also a map of remembering, pairing pain with the patience of time, family, solitude and friendship — PADRAIG O TUAMA This is such a beautiful book – poetic, compelling and, ultimately, deeply healing. Many have tried to capture the soul of the Andalusian landscape, but few have succeeded so well as Manni Coe. He is the perfect companion for a journey into a magical world that will continue to resonate well beyond the final page — JASON WEBSTER