Join us for a special event celebrating the release of Little Ruins: Rebuilding a Life, the poignant new memoir by Sunday Times bestselling author Manni Coe. Manni will be in conversation with the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd Dr Steven Croft, exploring themes of healing, community, and the transformative power of love and nature, as depicted in his deeply moving book.
The event will start at 6.00pm with a drinks reception, followed by the talk and a Q&A. Doors will open at 5.30pm, via the Radcliffe Square.
About the book:
Looking to begin a new chapter after years on the move, Manni Coe and his partner take a risk and buy ‘The Corner’, a crumbling but beautiful 150-year-old farmstead tucked into a remote valley in Andalusia, surrounded by olive trees. It's perfect for their unconventional family of three: Jack, Manni and his youngest brother, Reuben who has Down Syndrome. Secluded from the village by a river and in awe of the extraordinary Spanish landscape, Manni watches their land teem with mountain goats and wild boar, red deer and seasonal swallows. He begins to feel that this might be the place where each of them will find their peace.
But nothing is ever so simple. Though their hilltop village offers food, fellowship and guidance, many visitors bring their own problems and troubled pasts over the river. While Manni and Jack work to afford rebuilding The Corner, who will care for Reuben in the way that he deserves? And as Manni starts to realise that the scars from his childhood – kept hidden for all these years – might not have healed at all, a single, terrible event threatens everything the three of them have spent so long building together.
From landscape and poetry to family and friendship, Little Ruins is a heart-mending exploration of human connection, nature’s gifts and the power of love in all its forms.
About the author
Manni Coe grew up in Yorkshire and Berkshire and now lives between Andalusia and Dorset. He works as a private tour guide in both Spain and around the world, and is a registered olive oil farmer who produces extra virgin olive oil. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling memoir brother. do. you. love. me.
Pictures credit: Jodi Hinds
