Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the eARC of this book.

This is my first Benjamin Myers book and what stood out to me is the flow of the story was so comforting to read. The story being an ode to second chances, hope and friendship.

If you’re in the mood for a soul lifting read you can’t go wrong with this. Beautiful.

This book is full of tragic characters, most of whom are addicts. There is a basic storyline of an unhappy American being paid thousands of pounds to perform at a Northern Soul club, despite the fact he only sings two songs and is expected to perform an entire set for which he doesn’t bother rehearsing. He moans the whole time, as do the family of his host. Not for me.

Rare Singles is a terrific book about the meeting of two extraordinary but very ordinary people.

Dinah is a sensible and practical Yorkshire woman, living in Scarborough with her feckless husband and useless son, working a dead end job, but living for the weekend when she can lose herself in her beloved Northern Soul music.

Earlon “Bucky” Bronco lives in Chicago, struggling with chronic pain and an opioid addiction while mourning for his wife Maybell who died a year ago. Back in the day, he wrote and recorded some soul tunes, but his music career never really went anywhere and he’s lived a life of obscurity. He doesn’t realise that the songs he recorded were actually hits in the UK and there’s still a strong following of people who know his name and love his work. Bucky is astonished to be asked to Scarborough to sing his songs for the first time in decades, but it’s all expenses paid and he has no money, so despite having never left the USA before he bravely makes the transatlantic trip.

Dinah picks Bucky up at the airport and the touching, amusing and very human story begins. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Benjamin Myers can be forgiven for taking a foray into smoother water following the successes of Cuddy and The Perfect Golden Circle, but taking the foot off the proverbial gas shows a dip in quality as this book circles the drain almost as quickly as it's protagonist's soul career.

Bucky Bronco is an almost-was living life in a grief and opioid fog drifting through his days preparing to travel to Scarborough in England to take part in a Northern Soul festival. Bucky, however, is completely unaware of his little bit of fame on the other side of the Atlantic and hasn't sung a note publicly in decades. Dinah is to be his chaperone for the weekend helping him out with anything he needs as she can do little but watch the train wreck lives of her husband and son judder on and on.

The blurbs bill this as a comedy, but there is a pretty dark heart to the story given the various addictions on show and it is unfortunately a rather ponderous stoic ride with much going unsaid between the characters, which doesn't wholly work in a novel. As I say, there are no quibbles with Myers attempting to strike a lighter tone, but it just simply doesn't work a fully rounded novel. There is a lot of build up to Bucky performing without any rise or fall in the tone/atmosphere of the book.

A book of two people with difficult lives, of the potential to find a change, An aging (very brief) soul singer is invited to a Northern Soul event on the Yorkshire coast, this focusses on Bucky and Dinah and on the emotion and power of music.

An excellent read, the charcters and their past lives are well 'fleshed out' in a relatively short novel leading to part three in the book and the potential for finding a new and more optimistic past. I know something of the soul scene and that certainly adds to enjoyment of the novel, the importance that music can play in people's lives for the attendees, event, as well as the main protaganists. If there is a third main character, then northern soul takes the stage. Without 'spoilers' Bucky's troubles felt well portrayed and real, at times you wondered how the likely shift would or could happen from such a place of despair.

My only minor complaint is that is was short - it felt that with a little more length the later phase in particular could have become more. More time and space for the changes to come through.

I kept seeing glowing reviews for books by Benjamin Myers and then when his new novel was announced and that music played a big part of it I knew I wanted to read it.

At just over 200 pages it's a short book but that in no way lessens the power of the story. If anything it heightens the experience by concentrating on the important moments in the lives of the characters.

Rare Singles is a novel of warmth, friendship, emotion, grief and music, in particular the genre known as Northern Soul.

For those of us that haven't experienced a Soul Weekender then this book succinctly tells us not only what it is but why it's important and how it makes people feel.
Earlon 'Bucky' Bronco from Chicago was a one hit soul wonder back in the day. He's not performed in over fifty years but in a state of addiction and grief over the death of his wife he decides to take up an offer to perform in Scarborough.

What follows is a journey of discovery. He's never been to England and everything about this seaside town in Yorkshire is a surprise to him.
But it's not just discovering a new place. It becomes a chance to reconnect and come to terms with his past and to his utter bemusement to find that he has a level of fame he's been completely unaware of.

Picking him up from the airport and looking after him for the weekend is super fan Dinah. Soul music is her passion and helps her through the days of a dead end job, and her homelife with a husband and son that she's growing to hate.
The unexpected friendship between Bucky and Dinah is a thing of beauty. German interviewer Hattie and Afghan hotel cleaner Shabana are also stand out characters.
But maybe the biggest characters are the seagulls.

I think I've just read one of my favourite books of the year and found a new favourite author.
Sublime. Witty. Profound. Rare indeed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the eARC.

Benjamin Myers seems the sort of author who dips his toes into genres. I previously read The Perfect Golden Circle which was about crop circles and the wonders of nature. I really enjoyed it so when I saw he had one coming out featuring music, I was very excited.

This follows Bucky Bronco a man in his 70s living in Chicago who once upon a time released a couple of songs but has lived many lives since then. He is contacted by Dinah a huge fan and part of the team putting on a northern soul weekender in Scarborough. As far as he knows no one knows his songs but he is recently widowed, doesn't have much to do and they are offering good money for him to come to England and sing for 20 minutes.

For those not sure, Northern Soul is a subculture heavily focusing on the music and dances of black American soul music (often the lesser known songs, 'rare grooves') in the Midlands and North of England! It originated from the mod scene of the UK.

Okay lessons aside! I was.... a bit disappointed by this. I've put some key words and themes on the image and it is heavy in sentimentality. It verges on the saccharine. Whilst Bucky has some awful things from his past and has an addiction to opiods and Dinah has a unhappy family life, it all felt a bit too twee the way it was executed. It was a very easy and compulsive read but I found it lacked any depth, there was no second meanings or layers. It seems to fit in the trend of novels looking at nice old people finding a second chance at life, fans of the Osmans and Cannons of the genre would enjoy this. There's nothing wrong with it just being a nice story but for me that's all it was. Nice. I wanted something that maybe looked at the music scene more or delved a bit more into Buckys personality. He was just a bit dull. Every woman he meets falls for his charm and he calls them sweetheart, sweetpea and it just made him a bit flat.

If the plot interests you I do recommend it, but I just wanted something a bit more indepth and I missed some of the beautiful writing I found in his other works. Though maybe I just want a completely different book about northern soul than what he was offering, who knows! It was a sweet short read, just not quite what I was looking for.

Kindly gifted via Netgalley and Bloomsbury

This book is an absolute delight... We start with a one hit wonder - Bucky Bronco - who, soon after hitting the heady heights with a major hit back in the 60s, promptly vanished into obscurity, now all but forgotten stateside where he hails from, and currently resides.
But this is not the case in the UK where he has been booked to perform at Scarborough's Northern Soul Night, booked by Dinah. Dinah is Bucky's biggest fan, and his music her escape from her wastrel husband and feckless son. Bucky is left reeling by the invite, and all expenses paid trip across the pond, especially since things have been very tough for him since the death of his beloved wife... even though he hasn't performed the song in decades... although he is a wee bit scared...
This book is brilliant - gritty story but at the same time also heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Honest that does make sense. Chock full of cracking characters - especially Bucky, Dinah and Shabana - but even the minor players leave you with something!
It's quite an emotional read and had me laughing out loud on occasion as well as weeping a tad along the way too. I do get a little emotionally involved in these kind of characters, I do admit!
I especially enjoyed the "language barrier" between the US and the UK, chuckles aplenty!
This is the first book I have read by this author, even though I do have a copy of Cuddy sat on my shelf. I know that is a very different book to this one, but I really loved the way the author writes so I will endeavour to bump it up a bit...
All in all, a cracking read which I wholeheartedly recommend. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

An uneven but uplifting love letter to Northern Soul

From multi-hyphenate writer Myers comes his latest, the fictional long-awaited comeback of an American soul legend at a Northen Soul Weekender in Scarborough. Chicagoan Bucky Bronco had a hit and half back in the day, and no fifty years later and some change he gets an invite to perform in Scarborough in Merrie Olde Englande, all expenses. After a life of disappointments, grief and pain, Bucky's got nothing to lose.

When he touches down, his minder for the weekend is Dinah, a put-upon wife and mother, who knows the unlimited strength of her powers of humanity but holds them back for the sake of keeping her peace with her slacker son and even slacker-er husband. As the weekend unfolds, Bucky and Dinah both find the strength to take the next step, after years of holding back, and the future opens up in unexpected ways.

I find this sometimes, that a book feels like a second or third draft and needs a polish. The inconsistencies leap out: inexact language, overwrought dramatic flair, omniscient voice in the middle of very personal second tense narrative. Worst of all, the failure to use American language, rendering Bucky an anti-caricature.

BUT

Myers sticks the landing. Bucky and Dinah's redemption is where it's all leading, so I can almost forgive the very, very rough edges. This is a diamond in the rough: three and half stars, rounded up to four.

Myers' poetical skills come through in this beautifully told story of a man trying to overcome his demons with friendship and music. The reader is taken on an incredible journey with the protagonist Bucky Bronco. An excellent read and it would be marvellous to have a sequel to meet up with the characters again.

As an adopted Yorkshire lass this was the perfect love letter to Yorkshire and the Northern Soul scene.

Myers has a great knack for giving complex characters who you really are rooting for. If you like stories about music, pain, loss and second chances then this is the perfect read.

KEEP THE FAITH!

I’m always flabbergasted at just how perfectly Benjamin Myers manages to capture people, locations and different time periods - in fact, different genres.
He’s quickly become my favourite male contemporary author as I haven’t read one of his works yet that I haven’t been fully immersed and invested in.

In ‘Rare Singles’, Earlon ‘Bucky’ Bronco is flown to Scarborough from Chicago to play a Northern Soul Weekender. He can’t quite understand why he’s there, having only ever had one song released that never made him any money. He never toured and very quickly faded into obscurity on his home turf.
But he didn’t count on that joyous but obsessive group of music lovers for whom obscure artists (the more obscure the better) and rare singles is the very stuff of life.
The anachronistic scene of the Northern Soul Weekender is captured perfectly by Myers and reflected in the faded splendour of the Majestic Hotel (where Bucky is staying); the tawdry yet exciting feels of the classic British seaside resort by day and night and, very poignantly in Bucky himself.
Nearing his 70s, mourning the recent death of his wife, the love of his life Maybellene, and struggling with the pains and discomfort that come with old age and a hard life, AND, withdrawing very rapidly from an opiate addiction (he left his pills on the plane) - Bucky is a fantastic character. Sweet, constantly bemused by his current situation, heart-broken, in constant pain and desperate for something to blur all of these into a more manageable haze.
Bucky talks and thinks of his life so far as being quite empty (apart from his relationship with his wife). But just before he takes the stage as the closing act of the Weekender, he is suddenly flooded with small good memories that make the whole much fuller and fulfilling. It’s a beautiful moment and had me welling up with happy tears!

The character of Dinah is also beautifully written. She’s worn down into dust by the constant selfish needs of her wastrel husband and son and by her crappy day job. Soul music is her drug of choice. Her connection with Bucky is beautiful.
They’re a perfect pairing.

I just loved this book and every single word in it!

'Rare Singles' is a joyous, life-affirming novel about music, pain, loss and second chances from one of the most versatile authors writing today. Set over the course of a long weekend we follow the journey of septuagenarian widower Bucky Bronco from Chicago to Scarborough where he has been invited to sing for the first time in half a century at a Northern Soul festival. For Bucky, music is something that firmly belongs to his past and which has not earned him a cent since the $75 session fee he was paid for each of the two singles he recorded, so he is astonished to discover the cult following he still enjoys on the Northern Soul scene.

Bucky is met at the airport by Dinah, a fifty-something checkout assistant who despairs of her husband Russell and her manchild of a son, Lee, but lives for Northern Soul - so meeting the legendary Bucky Bronco represents a chance in a lifetime. Over the course o the weekend, Bucky and Dinah get to know each other better, and we learn more about both of their lives - particularly Bucky's marriage to Maybellene who died a year previously, and the tragic events that cut his music career short decades earlier. Jeopardy is also created through Bucky's opioid addiction which leaves him desperate to get hold of some sort of pain relief if he is to stand any chance of performing for his adoring fans on the Sunday evening.

This is another deeply lovely book from Benjamin Myers which incorporates elements of the romantic comedy but avoids feeling overly sentimental or contrived. It is also a love letter to the extraordinary Northern Soul scene and the way that music can give people a reason to keep going when their lives feel unimaginably tough. As Dinah observes, "soul music builds a bridge to that past, even if it only lasts as long as that song is being sung. Three minutes of joy is better than no minutes of joy." Myers writes so beautifully and movingly that this novel will offer far more than three minutes of joy. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

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.

This is a wonderful book. Easy to read with great characters. The descriptions of people and places are tremendous and pull you right in. I am so happy to have read this feel good story.

This was a really enjoyable book, full of music, life, death, grief, love and everything in between. And what a joy that it was set in Scarborough and the world of Northern Soul.
Thank you to netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advance copy of this book

High Fidelity with added northern soul.

If you're a fan of the orginal Nick Horby book set in London (rather than the film based in Chicago) this new book from Ben Myers is well worth your time.

The Chicago link is there though - an old soul singer is re-discovered by Dinah, marooned in Scarborough in a dying marriage.

After persuding the soul singer to travel to Scarborough the story builds to his first performance in over 40 years.

Moving from historic balck and white into the rain swept faded glamour of a British seaside town, Myers places you right there, as new friendships are built.

Recommended!

Earlon 'Bucky' Bronco is an old man living in pain and grief and just waiting to die. When he is contacted regarding a record he made when he was seventeen and invited to fly from Chicago to Scarborough to sing at a Northern Soul Weekender he thinks its a scam. Nobody in America knows who he is, so why would anyone thousands of miles away? But with nothing to lose and the anniversary of his wife's death fast approaching, Bucky decides to step into the unknown.

Myers has a great gift for writing about men who have lost everything and who teeter on the verge of despair but for whom unexpected friendships offer a connection and a way back to life. This reminds me of a Beat generation novel with a deeply English, peculiarly Northern twist which stabilises the excess and madness and morphs it into a singularly British experience. It's what I imagine would happen if you wedded Jack Kerouac with Alan Bennett. I absolutely adored this. It's dark and funny and strange and just a lovely, lovely thing.

This was beautiful, poignant and my heart definitely cracked a little. A fantastic mix of immersive descriptions, wonderful characters and some heartbreaking moments. When someone falls between the cracks in life, it can be the hardest thing for them to regain their confidence and belief in themselves.
I loved that this book shows just how important music is, at all stages of our lives.

The thing about Benjamin Myers' writing is that somehow he truly seems to capture memory, emotion and Yorkshire in a way that speaks to me profoundly.

I was first introduced to Myers; writing in The Offing, a book I bought on a whim and ended up falling in love with. Rare Singles very much follows in that vein. Myers has an undeniable talent in writing tenderly and humanely about big subjects such as grief, memory, melancholy and love. And in Rare Singles this was no exception.

A wonderful story about self-fulfillment and the idea that it truly is never too late to start again. Bucky and Dinah are charming, rounded characters faced with very different and yet similarly depressing/dissatisfying circumstances. Bucky's visit to a Soul music weekend in Scarborough begins a healing process for him, as well as for Dinah, long-time fan of his and co-organizer of said weekend.

Whilst the story itself is nothing new or groundbreaking, and occasionally the dip into the realm of cliché and saccharine is a bit blatant, Myers' skill as a writer manages to keep it feeling fresh and engaging. Some absolutely stunning passages on the topic of grief, love and the need to move forward.

Thank you to Netgalley, Bloomsbury and Ben Myers for such an enjoyable and moving read.

Dinah is unhappily married to a lazy, boorish manchild and mother to a useless son who spends his days gaming, watching porn and chatting to his online Filippino “fiancee.” She has a dead-end supermarket job in her home town of Scarborough, and her only compensations are wild swimming and her love of Northern Soul Music, so it is a dream come true for her when US sixties sensation Bucky Bronco accepts her invitation to perform at her local festival. Briefly a sensation for three hit songs, Bucky had sunk into obscurity after a tragic incident and has not performed since, imagining himself forgotten, but having recently lost his beloved wife Maybelle he figures he has nothing to lose by travelling to England and singing for the first time in over fifty years. A kind of modern fairytale meets a fish out of water fable, this is a warm and humourous but slight story. The culture clash scenario sees Bucky staying in what was once a grand old hotel but is now threadbare and faded, dependent on prescription painkillers that he has lost and trying to make sense of life in this unglamourous seaside town while being menaced by seagulls. The bond he forms with Dinah helps them both to plan a brighter future in a series of fairly unlikely developments (would he really not even have rehearsed his act beforehand?) but the leads are likeable and it is an entertaining, if unmemorable, read.