Rare Singles is set around a Northern Soul Weekender in Scarborough. ‘Bucky’ Bronco is surprised to find he has a cult following from a song he recorded as teenager and is invited to appear at the event. Local woman Dinah lives for Northern Soul and is thrilled to be Bucky’s guide around Scarborough and British culture. Their reflections on life echo the highs and lows of a soul song. This novel is as joyful as sweet music, highly recommended.

Bucky Bronco is an elderly American grieving his wife and his faded career following early success as a soul singer.
Dinah is a northern soul fanatic who loves Bucky’s music, she tracks him down and invites him to perform at a festival in Scarborough
When they meet they develop a warm friendship which enables them both to come to terms with their past and be able to more on

A warm tender funny story about unlikely friendships, second chances and soul music, showing the redemptive power of music
Thanks @benmyers76 @bloomsburypublishing & @netgalley for the fabulous read

Myers creates a world of unforgettable characters linked by their love of music. In particular the world weary Bucky, oblivious to his fame in the Northern soul scene of Britain is a dejected, addict who gradually sees a life with possibility beyond the grief of his losing family members. There is a real sense of place conjured up with the looming seagulls, fish and chips and Northern euphemisms.

Rare Singles cocoons you in a wonderful bubble of pure hope, for new futures, past glories and a sense of belonging to something greater than yourself.

I have never read anything by this author before.

I don’t like Northern Soul music but my husband loves it so I was intrigued by this book.

I really enjoyed it
An easy read
Well written and fun

Need to get the husband to read it!!

Bucky Bronco is still grieving his wife Maybell when he is asked to go to England to appear at a festival. Bucky wrote and recorded a couple of tracks when in his teems but his life took an unexpected turn and his career was over before it had begun. So Bucky travels all the way from Chicago to Scarborough and meets Dinah. Dinah's only escape from her feckless family is Northern Soul and her favourite song was performed by Bucky Bronco. When these two lost souls meet it seems like fate.
This is such a wonderful book. It is life-affirming in a non-schmaltzy way, one where seagulls are the personification of evil and a decaying town on the North Sea coast is transformed by soul music. Both Dinah and Bucky are loveable characters, the plot is understated and the writing sublime.

Apologies for the delay in submitting this review. I thought this was a wonderful book - with beautifully observed characters and a really vivid sense of place...there was something really cinematic about the writing and I feel it would transfer brilliantly to the screen.

Bucky Bronco is a one-hit wonder whose song has been, unknown to him, celebrated on the UK Northern Soul scene for years. He's invited to appear at a weekender in Scarborough and, only too aware it's the first anniversary of his wife's death, he accepts, not knowing where he's going or what he'll find there. What he finds is Dinah, middle-aged, stuck in a horrible marriage with a pretty vile waster of a son, who lives for music and has been detailed to look after Bucky while he's in the UK, and Shabana, a hotel cleaner with a broad taste in rap music who also ends up keeping an eye on him. Bucky is addicted to opoids for pain management and, thanks to an error in unfamiliar circumstances, ends up doing a pretty unpleasant withdrawl while in Scarborough, all the while haunted by the seagull (we all know in Britain from our seaside holidays, right: ours was just down the road in Bridlington) tap-tapping on his bedroom window and regarding him beadily.

It's a Larry McMurtry-esque tour de force portrayal of a slowly decaying man whose decline is suddenly arrested by a burst of the adoration he never had from audiences in his time or his home country. The Northern Soul scene is lovingly portrayed, as is the faded splendour of a northern seaside town. There's a feeling of gathering tension as Bucky's performance looms and this shortish novel about friendship, marriage and second chances does pack a punch (it's also a bit ... detailed so not particularly one to read over your dinner).

Book review published on my blog 08 September https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2024/09/08/book-review-benjamin-myers-rare-singles/

I was drawn to this novel because 1.it's about music and 2. it's set in Scarborough which is a place I spent time in when I was younger. This was a much more intense book than I was expecting but it was very well written. I'm someone who has struggled with chronic pain and the rollercoaster of pain medication so Bucky's struggles felt so real to me. I loved following his new friendship with Dinah and how they went from a business relationship to people who were opening up to each other and it felt like they were building a very real friendship. This isn't always an easy book to read but it's so worth it. This is a story that will really stay with me, I recommend it!

I was excited about this novel based on the description but it wasn't my cup of tea and I think the comparisons made in the blurb are flattering. The characters are pretty well-drawn but I found the dialogue pretty unrealistic in most cases (people just don't talk to each other in long paragraphs about fate) and this was a shame as the rest of the story felt grounded in reality. I was also taken out of the story by the fact that the middle-aged British character used phrases such as something smelling 'like a locker room' while the American character used Britishisms in his inner dialogue. It's very short and I can see why others would enjoy but not one for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I did enjoy this book and found it very endearing for the most part. However, it is very slow paced so not really a gripping page turner. If you're after a slower, cosy read then this book will do the job.

This tale of the developing friendship between long-forgotten soul singer 'Bucky' Bronco and Dinah (trapped by a dead-end job and in a loveless marriage), centred around a Northern Soul weekender in the Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough, is a joy to read from start to finish.

Mind you, everything Ben Myers writes is worth reading; Rare Singles is no exception.

A joyful celebration of friendship and the raw power of Northern Soul music... what's not to like?

Wow! Short and sweet. Really enjoyed this one. Probably helped I could picture all the locales of the scenes in Scarborough. Loved the concept. I have read a lot of Ben Myers books. Some I have loved and some just didn't get me started in the way they seem to for other people. This is probably because he covers so much with his writing - tackling various genres, really loved his crime books and the NF book about Mytholmroyd and surrounding area and of course The Gallows Pole. Rare Singles swept me along and I really cared about the characters as I could relate to them. Very punchy. Best thing I've read in a while. Thoroughly recommended.

I didn’t quite know what to make of this. It felt fresh, wise and funny, but also a little off-the-wall. I’d definitely recommend reading it, but perhaps with an open mind to get the true spirit of the book.

I feel like this story is a good read in a cold, autumn evening. It has a medium pace, but it suits with the pace of the characters. I felt like the story is more about reflection, understanding and finding hope and purpose after a long life at a quite advanced age which is what a lot of people miss to understand. Love the story and the characters because they were normal people going through mostly normal things in life.

I love this book. It’s got so many layers to it and the writing itself is so elegant. I’ll be reading it again very soon - the story pulls you in and uplifts you. One to keep on your bookshelf and come back to time and time again.

Warm and wise-feeling friendship and music narrative.

This feels paced and tangible, a pair of geographically-separated middle-to-older aged people, each with their own problems, meeting and bonding over music. And possibly finding the courage to face and deal with whatever life and circumstance has dealt them.

Bucky Bronco. Recently bereaved, he's a one-hit wonder from decades ago, he and his pain medication have been invited to a music festival over in a seaside town in England, he's happy to take a chance and get paid. And Dinah. Scarborough born and bred, she lives for Northern Soul weekends, it takes her mind off her scab of a son and man-child of a husband, and Bucky's song means the world to her.

Dinah's job is to look after the ageing musician for the weekend and prepare him for his first show in... well, decades. She can't understand why such a big hit never launched his career or made him wealthy.

We observe a growing friendship and mutual respect, and an opening up of histories and hearts. The stories presented are touchingly, achingly sad, but the overall narrative brings some peace and a bit of a sense of wellbeing by the end.

It's a path trodden before, but a male-female friendship in later life story is slightly less common and both characters are likeable, realistic creations. Seeing Scarborough and English life through the eyes of Bucky was also amusing.

Enjoyable summer read.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise was interesting to me and I was looking forward to embarking on a character journey but it just fell a bit short.

I failed to connect to either protagonist and I didn't gel with the story.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Scarborough is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast and is the perfect location for this novel. Bordered by the North Sea on the east, it is always grey and cold, at least in my memory, and as a resort, has definitely seen better days. Rather like the two main characters in this book.

One is an American man in his seventies who made a couple of records in his youth. Now he is addicted to prescription drugs and suffers loneliness due to the recent loss of his wife. The other character is the fan of his music, a woman in her fifties who is disappointed with her life - particularly her feckless and immature husband and their son who follows his father's ways. These two people are drawn together by their music. The musician is asked to appear at a Northern Soul event and the couple strike up a friendship and bond over music. The cultural differences are quite witty, such as asking if English fish and chips are served with a 'delicacy' of mushy peas only to be told that they can only be served with fish and chips or pies. Also known as a 'Yorkshire salad'.

The friendship is reminiscent of another of Myers' books The Offing, the odd match offering comfort as well as company and wisdom. Unusually, most of the characters are likable - even the pot-smoking teenager on a skateboard is amiable. Cameo appearance of an array of animals, from cats to seals, add a warmth, too. A story skilfully written, capturing the unfulfillment and loss as well as the coping strategies people fall into. A major theme is the passing of time, patience, nostalgia, memory and a clever architectural motif.

​But mostly this story is about how music connects people, life and death as well as joy and hope. A tale that takes place over one weekend that has an English 1960s feel to it: touching, uplifting and brilliant.

Bucky Bronco is struggling with the grief of losing his beloved wife when he is offered an opportunity he can't pass up. He is totally oblivious to how popular his one-hit-wonder song from years ago is over in the UK, and he hasn't sung or performed for longer than he can remember. But he could do with the money and the change of scenery will hopefully help him start to move on. Bucky superfan and part of the team putting on the Northern Soul weekender, Dinah meets him at the airport and is vert happy to be charged with looking after him while he is in her hometown of Scarborough.

Well this was a charming little read! Darkly funny, heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time with characters you can't help but love, or loathe in some cases!

Similarly to some other reviewers, there was just something that didn't quite work for me about Rare Singles. Brevity isn't necessarily a bad thing, but everything about the book felt surface-level, as if it wasn't really getting beneath the skin of the characters, settings or themes. As a portrayal of decaying institutions - be they industries, buildings or towns - there was lots of potential but nothing that really came to fruition.