Rare Singles - Benjamin Myers

Earlon ‘Bucky’ Bronco had a brush with fame a long time ago, but lives on in the Northern Soul scene.  Dinah, married to a dopey husband and a stoner son is his minder for a weekender in Scarborough.  And that is about as much plot as I am going to give you, because I’ll confidently predict that this will be one of the best novels you’ll read this year.

It’s an incredibly sweet, spiky, funny confection of a book.  It’s confident enough to connect its fictional universe to the talc and washers of Northern Soul.  Bucky exists in the world of Frank Wilson, Yvonne Baker and Don Thomas.  However, he also exists in the same universe as rapper Lil’ Widowmaker, a major plot point.  

It also has the bravery to have long steam of consciousness passages, retell Bucky’s life story and connect it to the grit and blunt of Yorkshire.  Dinah is as much  as fleshed out and likeable as Bucky.  There’s a happy ending, not the one you expect.  But one where the joy of music lives longer than the pain of life.  

It’s out on August 1st and I thank Bloomsbury for a preview copy.