A warm, tender and funny story about unlikely friendships, second chances, and the magic of soul music.
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.
We thought that something a little more gentle would be ideal July reading. Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers is a wonderful example of a gentle, character-focused novel filled with wit and warmth. It’s a complete turn of genre for Myers, too – much gentler than other books of his you may have read that tackle some tough stuff.
This one follows Earlon “Bucky” Bronco, a down-on-his-luck one-hit wonder soul singer as he travels from Chicago to Scarborough in North Yorkshire to perform in the seaside town. Dinah Lake, the organiser of the concert, is seeking an escape from her daily life through soul music and her enthusiasm for the genre.
Filled with larger-than-life characters and a heartwarming tale, look no further than Rare Singles for your beach read this summer.