The Ruin of Magic: Longing and Belonging in Strange Times

Is it possible to live wondrously by fluorescent light?

In The Ruin of Magic, award-winning writer Kate Holden follows in the footsteps of Katherine May, Maggie Nelson and André Aciman, crafting essays of intimate personal experience and sharply informed rumination on life in strange times.

In gorgeous prose Holden meditates on her instinctive yearning for long-ago Europe versus the natural belonging she feels to the Australian landscape, and asks, What is a home? The strongest shelter or the most lethal trap, a museum of ourselves or a showcase of fashions? What, then, does it mean to make ourselves at home in an Australia still finding its way amidst old and avoided truths? Is nostalgia a reasonable mourning of timeless lore lost or a dangerous fantasy? And what has happened to magic and beauty in the glare of modern life?

Reading Rainer Maria Rilke, Patti Smith, Walter Benjamin and D.H. Lawrence, dreamers and philosophers and poets, pagan history and new criticism, Holden writes with humour and sorrow of all the ways life today warps us under its glare – and how to find a haven in the subtle shadows.

'Elegant and whip-smart, The Ruin of Magic is a work of beauty – a sober yet joyful quest to find home and belonging.' —Susan Johnson

'Thrillingly erudite, belletristic, yet necessarily raw. Many readers will encounter this "almost private" book as the mirror they've been walking past their whole lives. The Ruin of Magic is a very lucid howl.' —Gregory Day

'A shimmering book that teases, enchants and provokes while offering balm through language and memory for our modern anguish and fear of oblivion' —Robert Dessaix

'Deeply personal and culturally urgent ... an elegantly braided collection that shimmers with intelligence.' —Books+Publishing

'Building a place to live with [Kate Holden's] family, quite possibly forever, saw her ruminating about homes: how we find them, build them, decorate them. How we feel in our homes. Her new book, The Ruin of Magic, tackles these questions in a dazzling way.'—The Australian

'The tone is warm and the rewards many'—The Age

'[Kate Holden] hits a rich and glittering seam of honest speculation and sharp analysis.'—The Saturday Paper

'...a thoroughly thought-provoking reading experience'—Australian Writers Centre

'Writing that demands we slow down and let ourselves be carried by the twists and turns of the author's mind. . . Kate Holden seeks to reconcile the desire for consolation with the yearning to be at home in the present moment.'—Sydney Morning Herald

'[Holden] takes her readers on spectacular flights through literature, philosophy and history . . . a delicate and leisurely dance through ideas.'—The Conversation

'... personal, philosophical, poetic and a must-read.'—Qantas Magazine

'[A] magnificent collection.'—Good Reading