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A warm, tender and funny story about unlikely friendships, second chances, and the magic of soul music
**Selected as a book of 2024 by the Guardian, New Statesman and Good Housekeeping**
‘A book of rare charm by a writer who understands the magic of music’ Ian Rankin
‘An entertaining tale of grit, fecklessness and Northern Soul’ Daily Telegraph
‘The book you didn’t know you need’ Bobby Palmer
‘A tale of soul music and second chances’ Guardian
‘The laureate of friendship, a chronicler of unexpected, transformative connection’ Wendy Erskine
‘A meditation on grief, love, and the redemptive power of music’ Observer
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Dinah has always lived in Scarborough. Trapped with her feckless husband and useless son, her one release comes at her town’s Northern Soul nights, where she gets to put on her best and lose herself in the classics.
Dinah has an especial hero: Bucky Bronco, who recorded a string of soul gems in the late Sixties and then vanished off the face of the earth. When she manages to contact Bucky she can’t believe her luck.
Over in Chicago, Bucky Bronco is down on his luck – and has been since the loss of his beloved wife Maybelle. The best he can hope for is to make ends meet, and try and stay high.
But then an unexpected invitation arrives, from someone he’s never met, to come to somewhere he’s never heard of. With nothing to lose – and in need of the cash – Bucky boards a plane.
And so Bucky finds himself in rainy Scarborough, where everyone seems to know who is – preparing to play for an audience for the first time in nearly half a century. Over the course of the week, he finds himself striking up new and unexpected friendships; and facing his past, and its losses, for the very first time.
‘A writer who continues to build a rich and bold body of work on his own terms’ Ron�n Hession
Wise, hilarious and profound, Rare Singles is an unforgettable story about the power of music and friendship to bring us back to ourselves.
In stock
An entertaining tale of grit, fecklessness and Northern Soul … reflects the author’s dedication to Northern stories, and his knack for making them come alive
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Vivid as a Polaroid snapshot … A charming hymn to the power of music … A book of affection that takes joy in its main characters and their passions, about pain, loss and the possibility of redemption
OBSERVER
Myers is the laureate of friendship, a chronicler of unexpected, transformative connection … So how beautiful to read something so affirming and full of light, and to have music, ephemeral as it might be, presented as precious and transformational
WENDY ERSKINE
Lovely to spend time with two characters I really wished could be real … A book of rare charm by a writer who understands the magic of music
IAN RANKIN
A book that captures just why music is so magical. Music pulses throughout a novel that, in part, reads like a love letter to the timeless American classics of Chess Records, Stax and Motown … If you want a heartwarming summer read, I definitely suggest you give Rare Singles a spin
independent.co.uk
A story that takes joy in its characters and their passions … Myers’s descriptions of the northern soul scene carry the passion of a true believer
GUARDIAN, Book of the day
A meditation on friendship, community and the power of music to unite and uplift
IRISH TIMES
A celebration of the redemptive power of music. In essence, the novel is a love song to love songs … Those who enjoy a love story set to a fantastic soundtrack should embrace this nostalgic trip to Scarborough. If David Nicholls and Nick Hornby had a literary love child, this book would be it
IRISH TIMES
Following the Goldsmiths-winning Cuddy, a tale of soul music and second chances, as a washed-up American singer meets a Scarborough woman
GUARDIAN, Books to look out for in 2024
This is a story about kindness and warm hearts, but one told by way of acrid humour, irreverence and fizzy dialogue
IRISH INDEPENDENT
Some characters get under your skin, and Earlon ‘Bucky’ Bronco, an ageing addict who once had a hit record, is one of the most memorable I’ve come across in a long time. When he’s invited to a Northern Soul event in Scarborough, he meets downtrodden Dinah – his number one fan – and the two find hope in each other
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, 20 best books of the year
A poignant and soulful story that delves into the nuances of human experience through the power of music
GLAMOUR
Myers, a consummate storyteller, is in his element here; empathetic and generous
i paper
Warm, witty and unexpected, Rare Singles is that rare thing – a novel filled with truth and tenderness and genuine humanity. The book you didn’t know you need
BOBBY PALMER, author of Isaac and the Egg
Pulses, not with the pounding beats of Northern Soul, but with the shifting rhythms of lives lived, moving from stasis to flux
THE CRACK
An absolute banger
RED
A nostalgic tale of love, loss, friendship and music
RADIO TIMES
People, you’re going to love this. A beautiful vignette of redemption, loss, faded seaside glamour and Northern Soul
MAT OSMAN
Scarborough’s Northern Soul scene is the setting for Rare Singles by the Durham-born Benjamin Myers, who won the 2023 Goldsmiths Prize
NEW STATESMAN, 2024: The year in fiction
Returns Myers to his past as a music journalist, telling a warmly nostalgic tale of northern soul and unlikely friendship in Scarborough. The great but forgotten Bucky Bronco’s visit to the Yorkshire coast is handled with Myers’s customary humour and generosity of spirit.
GUARDIAN, Fiction to look out for in 2024
Praise for Benjamin Myers: One of our finest, and most deftly imaginative, writers
I NEWS
What a radical thing, these days, to have written a book so full of warmth and kindness … Gorgeous
MAX PORTER
| Weight | 0.28 kg |
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| Dimensions | 232 × 152 × 18 cm |
