“She had returned to reclaim the place that had been taken from her with the swift motion of the consular officer’s letter opener, which he used to remove each family member’s visa when they left.’’ Over the years, Rosalie had transformed into a Saudi wife and largely obeyed many of the ancient rites and rituals of Muslim culture. The Ruins of Us is a compelling, timely debut novel that explores the loneliness of expatriate life and the dangers of intolerance, as well as the things well do for love. “For years after her family left for good, when they where living in a thin-walled development house in East Texas, she could not hear a PA system crackle on without hoping the call to prayer would follow,’’ writes Parssinen. “The absence of pins forced her to tuck the fabric’s long edge close to her chin,’’ writes the author, “making her look like a tourist who had never learned to properly veil herself.’’ Indeed, Rosalie is far from a tourist to this distant land: A Texan by birth but a Saudi by marriage, Rosalie has created an opulent life with her successful husband, Abdullah, and their teenage children, Mariam and Faisal, for more than two decades in the fictional city of Al Dawoun on the edge of the al-Dahna Desert.Īs the reader of this thoughtful examination of culture and family quickly learns, Rosalie’s roots in Saudi Arabia extend beyond her 25-year marriage to Abdullah, whom she met in college in the United States: For the first 13 years of her childhood, she grew up on a State Oil compound before returning to Sugar Land, Texas. The Ruins of Us is a timely story about intolerance, family, and the injustices we endure for love that heralds the arrival of an extraordinary new voice in contemporary fiction.Keija Parssinen takes readers to Saudi Arabia and Texas in her debut novel, “The Ruins of Us.’’ Shane EppingĪt the start of Keija Parssinen’s absorbing debut novel, “The Ruins of Us,’’ 47-year-old Rosalie al-Baylani attempts to tuck her hijab over her distinctive red tresses after a strong desert breeze lifts up the folds of fabric. When Faisal makes a choice that could destroy everything his embattled family holds dear, they all must confront difficult truths as they fight to preserve what remains of their world. Meanwhile, Abdullah and Rosalie's consuming personal entanglements blind them to the crisis approaching their sixteen-year-old son, Faisal, whose deepening resentment toward their lifestyle has led to his involvement with a controversial sheikh.

That discovery plunges their family into chaos as Rosalie grapples with leaving the country, her life, and her family behind. More than two decades after moving to Saudi Arabia and marrying powerful Abdullah Baylani, American-born Rosalie learns that her husband has taken a second wife. The Ruins of Us is a compelling, timely debut novel that explores the loneliness of expatriate life and the dangers of intolerance, as well as the things we'll do for love.

The Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen