Synopsis
Female Ruins is the story of Christopher Howell, a cult architect who allegedly built just one building, and the search for that fabled building - reputedly a wild, willful amalgam of styles ranging from 11th-century Norman to 20th century Neutra. Ingeniously built into the narrative are bits of Howell's essays, which celebrate the idea of the "Cardboard House" and the architecture of impermanence." "When Howell's daughter - and keeper of his flame - Kelly and a Howell groupie named Jack Dexter hook up in a free-falling love affair, the search for this apocryphal building becomes a search for a lost past.
Library Journal
The most compelling voice in this novel belongs to an offstage character, would-be architect and notable architectural critic Christopher Howell, whose death has occurred years before the novel opens. The principal characters are Howell's daughter Kelly, an English taxi driver, and Jack Dexter, a Howell groupie who has just arrived in England on holiday. In order to hire Kelly and get the goods on her father, Dexter uses a subterfuge, posing as an injured tourist seeking a driver to show him the local sights. Unsuspecting Kelly has long been haunted by her father's fame and his unfulfilled promise. Their wanderings take them, first, around Sussex to look at various architectural ruins and, later, after Dexter's cover is blown, to Los Angeles, where Dexter has a surprise waiting for Kelly. This entertaining read is enlivened by scattered riffs on architecture by Howell himself. It is likely to find a happy home on most public library shelves.--Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Kingston, ON Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\