This is certainly a very different novel to the Benjamin Myers novels I’ve read before, but a change is as good as a rest and all that and he certainly can’t be accused of being formulaic.

This is a very funny, seemingly lighthearted novel about ‘Bucky Bronco’ from America, a creaky boned old timer, now struggling with opioid addiction, who had a few one hit wonders many moons ago whilst in his teens. He’s been treated badly by the music industry, and since led a seemingly regular life in dead end jobs, but saved by his true love, Maybelle, until her recent death. Grief plays a significant part here, and we hear over the course of the novel how grief also marred Bucky’s life at a young age, and discover the tragedies that led to a life course changed by injustice.

The novel commences with Bucky’s transatlantic flight to Yorkshire Uk, after being invited out of the blue to sing at a Northern soul ‘Weekender’. As a Yorkshire girl myself, the American perspective on the county ‘known for its deserts’ made me laugh out loud and there were many a tongue in cheek moments. Bucky is greeted by his host, the charming Dinah from ‘Scabados’, Bucky’s biggest fan, and a truly wonderful character who jumps right of the page to charm the socks of the reader. Dinah has her own family and relationship troubles with her rather useless husband and son, whom are clearly a drain on her exuberance and love of life.

I’m not going to detail the plot any further, as to be honest, it’s a relatively straight forward one and you just need to read and enjoy the ride. It’s a short, easy read, and I’m sure it will be another hit for fans of Benjamin Myers.

Thanks to Bloomsbury publishing and NetGalley for an ARC.

US singer Earlon Bucky Bronco recorded one single and another song that never saw the light of day, as he disappeared from the limelight.
Now, decades later, he has been invited to a Northern Soul weekender in Scarborough.
As the novel builds up to his moment on stage and he struggles to overcome years of addiction to opiates, we become invested in his character and learn about his tragic past. We also sympathise with Dinah, the assigned minder for Bucky during his stay, who has a drunk, immature husband and a gaming obsessed no-hoper son.
The main theme is nostalgia and dwelling on the past as a better time than the present. Scarborough has seen better days and the hotel that Bucky is staying in is dilapidated, but hides a fascinating history. The Northern Soul revivals are attended by generations wanting to revisit their youth.
The glorious finale and the coda, however, seem to suggest that the present and future can also hold promise, and for us to look forward and try new things.
Rare Singles is definitely a book with soul.

God help me but I love Ben Myers work. If you read all his novels one after another you'll be utterly puzzled about what genre the man works in. Thankfully it's most of them. On finishing Rare Singles he said it was nothing like his last book (Cuddy) and won't be anything like his next. I can't wait till the next one to find out what we get.

For now we have Rare Singles which, at the beginning, probably refers to those singles that might be called one hit wonders, the ones that blaze then disappear. If you find a mint copy you'd be (as we say in Yorkshire) "quids in".

The story of Earlon "Bucky" Bronco had been that of a one-hit wonder up to the point he finds himself on a plane heading for England to play a weekender in sunny Scarborough on the North Sea coast. Bucky had one hit but due to circumstances made no money and no more records.

However, that one single is a Northern Soul classic and now the enthusiasts led by Dinah Lake want the ageing Bucky to perform. Bucky has no idea what he's walking into. All he wants is something to take the edge off the pain - physical and emotional. Why are all these people so happy to see him anyway and how do they all know his song?

No folks this is nothing like Cuddy or The Offing or Gallows Pole. But it is a book written with love and passion. It's also very funny. Dinah, Bucky, Shabana and Hattie are great characters. Scarborough itself plays a role but the seagulls may just take star billing.

I'm a Yorkshirewoman so reading about home territory is always interesting. I was turned onto soul and Northern Soul by my dancing/music loving husband. The subject matter is therefore right up my alley but you don't need to know a thing about either to recognise a story about love, passion and redemption.

Myers has yet to put a foot wrong for me. His versatility is incredible and I loved the humour in this latest novel. Just sit back, listen to the music and enjoy this wonderful book. Highly recommended.

Thankyou very much to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advance review copy.

DNF at 66%.

This is a gentle character driven observational story about an American soul singer, Earlon “Bucky” Bronco, who has had no fame at home in Chicago, but gets invited to a “Weekender” Northern Soul event Scarborough in England - due to a level of fame and adulation in the UK that he was previously unaware of. His host, Dinah, is also struggling in her home life, but finds solace in the music. Bucky battles his own demons of physical pain, drug addiction and bereavement, as he tries to find his place amongst an enthusiastic crowd of Northern Soul fans.

This should have been an emotional and engaging story. The characters of Bucky and Dinah should have felt real to me, in a way that I could have connected to. The writing style is lyrical and poetic, especially Bucky’s inner monologue - his observations of the world around him are detailed and expressive, which ought to have given Bucky and emotional depth.

But, for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, I couldn’t connect to Bucky or Dinah - I felt like I was being told about their thoughts and feelings, rather than experiencing them. And without that emotional connection, the slow story progress and expressive, detailed passages of Bucky’s experiences and thoughts felt like wading through descriptive treacle in order to get to the next plot point. Perhaps also due to my lack of emotional engagement with the characters, the growing relationship between Bucky and Dinah also felt forced, and their moments of connection then felt slightly saccharine.

This is a shame, because I really wanted to enjoy this book, and the characters of Bucky and Dinah should be sympathetic, and have an interesting journey. In the end, I found myself skimming over descriptive passages that should have been emotionally engaging, and continuing beyond that point wasn’t going to benefit anyone.

Thank you #NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the free review copy of #RareSingles in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Benjamin Myers latest offering is exquisite, beautifully written, lyrical and teeming with atmosphere, it just oozes oodles of charm, celebrating the timeless joy and connection to be found in soul music. In the coastal town of Scarborough lives Dinah, she is stuck with a husband, son, and home life that you can understand her wanting to escape from, this she does through her love of classic northern soul music nights, and in particular has a fixation on her idol, Earlon 'Bucky' Bronco, and his hits from the late 1960s, after which he was never heard of again. Dinah takes it upon herself to contact him, hoping he will come over from America to Scarborough.

The lonely ageing Bucky resides in Chicago, having lived through a life of tragedies, troubles, and turbulence, he has never had any success in the US, and is totally unaware of just how popular he is in Britain and Europe. He is struggling to survive, overwhelmed by grief with the loss of his wife, smoking joints, and relying on prescription medication to get by, when he receives Dinah's out of the blue and surprising invitation to a place he has never even heard of. With nothing to lose, he flies over, but to his dismay, he leaves his pain education on the plane, now having to handle the stress and pain of his withdrawal symptoms. Met by Dinah, he stays at a hotel that has seen better days, terrified of having to perform in front of an audience.

In this fun, profound, memorable, captivating and entertaining read, Myers captures the power of friendships, finally coming to understand yourself and who you are, making new connections, broadening horizons and perspectives, and seeing there are opportunities that can come, there is always hope. The author provides us with a marvellous sense of location, making me feel as if I was right there with it's seagulls! He shines a light on the cultural and linguistic differences between the US and the UK, and the similarities in the bleak circumstances. The characterisation is superb, as can be seen with the wonderful Bucky, not to mention the brilliant Shabana too. This is one you should not miss! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers (out in the UK 1 Aug 24) is a book full of soul. It’s different to his other books, but it still has his love of place and facts. Mainly it’s a character piece with themes like grief and loneliness at its core.
Based in the Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough, it focuses on local woman Dinah, trapped in a marriage with a useless husband. Her only escape is in Northern Soul, which is where her hero, legendary singer Bucky Bronco comes in. Raised in Chicago, Bucky recorded a couple of soul hits in the 60s - but now he’s down on his luck. When Dinah invites him to sing at an event in England, things are going to change for both of them.
I particularly loved the descriptions of the sights, sounds & smells of Scarborough - it left me wanting fish and chips (as long as there are no gulls around).

Benjamin Myers' work has been on my TBR pile of shame for a while now. So when I saw Rare Singles was set in Scarborough and prominently featured Northern soul? I had to apply for that ARC.

About halfway through part one - and this is no 800+ page epic - I began to feel a little trepidatious. Yes, Bucky and Dinah are two of the most charming characters I can remember reading but I thought I could foresee any upcoming story beats. My mind kept going to that Letterboxd list by the name of '“nothing happens” yeah but the vibes'. I love that sort of thing usually and that feeling was entirely on me, owing to recent events in my life two days into starting the book that made me want to just have some plot-driven pulp sweep me away from my troubles. In particular, Myers' spot-on descriptions of arthritic aches and pains were decidedly not, I felt at the time, what I needed right then.

But this one? This one creeps up on you.

Whether it be Bucky, Dinah, Shabana, Hattie, seagulls or The Majestic (the hotel Bucky stays at during his stay on the Yorkshire coast and quite clearly a stand-in for Scarborough's Grand Hotel), I soon found myself thinking about Myers' characters outside of the pages when I wasn't reading. Even now, the morning after finishing the book, I'm often imagining what they're upto and where about, half-expecting to see them the next time I go to 'Scarbados'.

All this is down to Benjamin Myers' sublime prose and characterisations. We see these damaged characters from their perspectives and those around them but everything is enveloped in gentleness. Even Bucky, who - at least initially - is no fan of himself, views others with such warmth that I honestly found myself wanting to be seen through the eyes of Earlon 'Bucky' Bronco*.

Despite any brief concern earlier, I found Rare Singles utterly enrapturing and can't wait to dive further into the author's work, completely different as it may be.

*To be specific, around the time he's describing how 'handsome' Dinah is. If you know you know.

After I loved Cuddy so much, I was initially disappointed with Rare Singles. But. As always Benjamin Myers writing is so tight, with not a wasted word, and yet so gloriously descriptive, that I was soon in love with the characters and immersed in their world. Myers is my favourite author because his books are so varied. This is more in the vein of The Offing rather than The Gallows Pole and Cuddy and so it makes a lighter read but still has elements of darkness. You can hear the music, feel the sea air and are rooting for Bucky Bronco to the very last page.

When Bucky Bronco is invited to perform at a Northern Soul weekend in Scarborough, he decides to take a chance and board a plane. Addicted to pain killers and having recently lost his wife, he has nothing to lose.
Dinah’s only escape is the music. A deadbeat husband and useless son are taking all of the joy out of her life, so she finds solace in the only thing that brings her comfort - Northern Soul.
When Dinah and Bucky’s worlds collide these two lost souls discover so much about themselves, the world they live in, and how finding pleasure in the small things can really make us feel alive.

I wanted to love this book, but ended up liking it. The characters are great and the author does a brilliant job of describing a slightly faded British seaside town, but it just felt a tiny bit forced. The slow uncovering of Bucky’s life story brings a real depth to the character, and I really liked how Dinah wasn’t going to let her circumstances grind her down.
There were some sections of the book which felt like social commentary on the state of the USA and the UK, which to me felt a little bit forced, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

Earlon Bucky Bronco is contacted by a small community in Scarborough who put on a Soul Weekend every year. He flies over and meets Dinah, who acts as his guide, and we read how he takes in his new surroundings and prepares to play the three songs he knows. Little does Bucky realise that he’s actually hugely popular. Bucky battles withdrawal addiction and grief as he navigates this new experience.

It was a good read and well written but I can’t get it in my head that Benjamin Myers wrote it. It’s so far apart from The Gallows Pole.

I did find it a little lacklustre but the descriptions of Scarborough, the Majestic and the pesky seagulls was very entertaining.

This is at the more straightforward end of Myer’s writing after the stylistic tour de force of Cuddy. Set primarily in Scarborough around a northern soul convention, and focused on a musician who recorded some classic tracks then got on with his life, and those who took his music to heart, especially Dinah who is is chaperone for the event. It’s a moving celebration of life, the power of music, dealing with adversity and finding hope. Bucky’s life story is well threaded through the narrative, Scarborough feels real and recognisable, and there’s a strong vein of humour throughout. I adored this, and want only good things for Bucky and Dinah in the future…

Rating: 2.3/5

Earlon "Bucky" Bronco lives his life in Chicago, just getting on and getting by, scratching a day-to-day existence as best he can. Unbeknownst to Bucky, on the other side of "the pond", he has become something of a cult idol in the world of Northern Soul. This is something he will only discover after he receives and accepts an invitation to play at an annual soul music event in Scarborough, England called "The Weekender". His contact and host for his trip is Dinah, a lifelong soul music fan, who has her own troubled domestic life. "Rare Singles" tells the story of Bucky and Dinah and the friendship they forge as Bucky prepares to perform at the show.

Although this is an agreeable enough tale to pass the time with, there is nothing particularly outstanding about it. The central characters are pleasant enough and have gradually emerging backstories that held my attention for the most part, but without ever really making me feel emotionally invested. The narrative is sprinkled with gentle humour and there are some nice scenes along the way, usually revolving around the cultural differences between city life in the USA and a coastal town in the north of England. Overall, however, I found this to be too saccharine sweet for my taste and there were too many periods where the story was treading water rather than moving towards its rather predictable outcome.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

Bucky Bronco was a soul singer in the late Sixties in America. While he recorded a couple of singles only one of them was fully published. "Stuff" happened in his life and he roamed from job to job. Recently his wife of many years died and he is probably somewhat depressed at the start of this story. He is also probably a prescription medication addict. To his surprise he gets a call from the UK asking him to perform at a Northern Soul weekend in Scarborough. To his even greater surprise he accepts the invitation! Dinah - a massive fan of his - meets him at the airport and takes him to the hotel he has been booked into in Scarborough. It's fair to say that the hotel has seen better times as has Rocky.

The hotel - well past its best - works well as a main location for this. Scarborough more generally is very good too. However this tale really revolves around Bucky and Dinah. Bucky finds it hard that anyone can be so into him and his music. Dinah is in awe of Bucky (while being very down to earth) and delighted to have something in her life more rewarding and interesting than her husband and her son. The book really covers quite a short period of time from Bucky's arrival until just after the gig. However it allows us insight into the pasts of both the main lives.

It's fair to say that I am generally a fan of Myers' writing - I loved The Offing. While this is not at all the same it had a feel to it that was. It manages to be gentle, powerful and funny without any effort. Dinah is a very good character and an excellent foil to Bucky. Among my notes on this book is the line "How can you not love Bucky!!" and his twists and turns, highs and lows held me. There is real warmth in this story as well as heart. Personally I loved this tale and I am very impressed (again) with the quality of Benjamin Myers' writing.

A strange book, Almost as if Myers has decided to remove the quirks which make his books fascinating and go out all Nick Hornby at his most sentimental and chiched. Still enjoyable but nothing very special

This feels populated by real people, in their messy, complicated and frustrating lives. I have not read anything by Benjamin Myers before but will look out for more of his work. I found this to be not only a real and present novel but one written with poetic phrases and descriptions, something which is rare and beautiful. The author finds poetry and beauty in simple things, messy things. This feels, for me, to be a work of art and not just another easy work of literary fiction.
A novel written about a short period of time, but one in which the central characters are able to find purpose and meaning in their lives. A rare single is a special thing, many of us have a rare single that means more to us than merely the song…sometimes it may even be a half remembered track that has no name. It could also be that rare single stays in our head and always works as an escape from a mundane life. This story has uplifted me and given me an escape for a few hours from my mundane life, thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Benjamin Myers is one of the UKs finest writers, his bonafides speak for themselves.

Rare Singles is arguably Myers most straightforward work to date, as a forgotten US Soul singer finds a cult following within the UK Northern Soul scene, he's brought over to Scarborough for a festival performance. Advancing in years, widowed, battling addiction, and utterly unaware of the impact of his music Bucky meets Dinnah, one of the organisers of the festival and superfan of his one rare single.

She's trapped in a long broken marriage, and she yearns for the freedom of music, of the sea, of the purity of these simple yet immensely complex things. As their worlds collide, the metamorphosis begins.

Myers' writing is so effortlessly compelling, and his stories of place and belonging are always incredibly welcome in my world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.
This is the story of ‘Bucky’ Bronco and ageing American soul singer and his redemption (personal and professional) at a Northern Soul weekend in Northern England.
I must admit to having a bit of a Marmite response to those books of Myers’ that I’ve read previously. I really enjoyed The Perfect Golden Circle and thought Cuddy was excellent, but did not Like The Offing and it’s tendency towards being overwritten at all.
Rare Singles falls somewhere between those two extremes for me. It’s an enjoyable story, along the lines of Nick Hornby or David Nicholls, but better written. It doesn’t demand much of the reader but to sit back and enjoy the journey (unlike the aforementioned Cuddy which is a bit more experimental in it’s format) and there are some genuinely funny parts in it (Bucky’s conflict with a Scarborough seagull which was almost Captain Ahab-esque in the intensity of the battle of wits and wills, for example).
On the less positive side I did find that this story did fall victim to the same tendency to overwrite that I found so off-putting in The Offing: “The first winds of it lifted more litter from rubbish bins that overflowed like molten candles. it blew past Dinah, off into the treacle-thick darkness of what lay beyond the soft glow of the town’s last lamp post.” The use of lower case letters to start sentences was also something that featured throughout the book but not for every sentence -as it was an arc I was reading I’m not sure if this was intentional or something that will be edited out before publishing, but I AM sure that the random nature of it was jarring…

Overall I would recommend this book if you are looking for something light and contemporary but with more literary leanings.

I very much enjoyed this authors book Cuddy which was I think on the booker long list last year and therefore when this book appeared on appeared on NetGalley UK went to the top of my to be read list
The novel tells the story of an American elderly man who in his youth released two singles of soul music. In America these were lost to history but because of the persistence of the northern soul dance scene in the UK, his remained popular here. He is invited over to the UK to winter time, Scarborough a northern British seaside town to sing his songs for the first time in many decades.
The novel looks at loneliness following the death of a loved one in this situation after a long life together lead character he loses his loved wife. He is at Sea and metaphorically in this novel as he arrives still reeling from the death of his wife and suffering from withdrawal symptoms having left his painkillers on the aeroplane by accident.
The description of withdrawal symptoms was visceral and so real.
The novel has a gritty messy very real feel to it. We get to know more about the lead character and also one of the women who has been instrumental in bringing him over to the UK.
The setting in a northern seaside town at Winter time adds to the claustrophobic, gloomy feel and is extremely atmospheric. Whilst the main characters are American, this novel is entirely British in its feel and setting. I particularly loved the description of the seagull and its malevolence anyone who has seen the behaviour of feral Seaside seagulls will recognise this description perfectly.
The author has a flowing easily read writing style and the novel was a joy to Read.
I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK on the 1st of August 2024 by Bloomsbury publishing plc.

This will appear on NetGalley UK, Goodreads and my book blog bionic SarahS books.wordpress.com.

After publication it will also appear on Amazon UK

This is a sad, funny, tragic but ultimately uplifting novel.

I loved the childlike innocence of Bucky on his flight to England, everything new to him and alien. He is very aware of the parochialism of his life in the US as his world opens up. There are many amusing observations, the funniest by far being: 'he was in Yorkshire, a place that he knew was famous for its desserts'.

Bucky and Dinah are two wonderfully drawn characters, and Scarborough is a close third. All have had their moments of glory, all are now down-trodden, wracked by social problems. There is always a sense of hope though for our protagonists, as they get to know, understand and care for each other. Minor characters shine too, especially hotel cleaner Shabana.

The power of music is a strong theme, the respite it gives from life's adversity, the memories it so vividly opens up. This is a book to lose yourself in.

Rare singles tells the story of Bucky, an American soul singer who’s accepts an invitation by Dinah to headline a Northern Soul weekender in Scarborough.
A light and easy but heartwarming read