A warm tender and funny story about unlikely friendships second chances and the magic of
soul music **Selected as a book of 2024 by the Guardian New Statesman and Good
Housekeeping** 'A book of rare charm by a writer who understands the magic of music' Ian
Rankin 'An entertaining tale of grit fecklessness and Northern Soul' Daily Telegraph 'The book
you didn't know you need' Bobby Palmer 'A tale of soul music and second chances' Guardian 'The
laureate of friendship a chronicler of unexpected transformative connection' Wendy Erskine 'A
meditation on grief love and the redemptive power of music' Observer
____________________________________ 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. 'A writer who continues to build a rich and bold body of work on his own
terms' Ronán Hession Wise hilarious and profound Rare Singles is an unforgettable story
about the power of music and friendship to bring us back to ourselves.
