Description
One day. Sixteen songs. The soundtrack of a lifetime...
Alone in her studio, Cass Wheeler is taking a journey back into her past. After a silence of ten years, the singer-songwriter is picking the sixteen tracks that have defined her - sixteen key moments in her life - for a uniquely personal Greatest Hits album.
In the course of this one day, both ordinary and extraordinary, the story of Cass's life emerges - a story of highs and lows, of music, friendship and ambition, of great love and great loss. But what prompted her to retreat all those years ago, and is there a way for her to make peace with her past?
Daughter. Mother. Singer. Lover. What are the memories that mean the most?
In this bittersweet and poignant follow-up to the Number One bestselling The Versions of Us, Laura Barnett cements her position as one of the most talented storytellers of her generation.
Alone in her studio, Cass Wheeler is taking a journey back into her past. After a silence of ten years, the singer-songwriter is picking the sixteen tracks that have defined her - sixteen key moments in her life - for a uniquely personal Greatest Hits album.
In the course of this one day, both ordinary and extraordinary, the story of Cass's life emerges - a story of highs and lows, of music, friendship and ambition, of great love and great loss. But what prompted her to retreat all those years ago, and is there a way for her to make peace with her past?
Daughter. Mother. Singer. Lover. What are the memories that mean the most?
In this bittersweet and poignant follow-up to the Number One bestselling The Versions of Us, Laura Barnett cements her position as one of the most talented storytellers of her generation.
I thought when I requested this book that the "Greatest Hits" were going to be from real life - but it turns out they are the fictional songs that Cass the main character in the book has written. There are some references made to contemporary songs and bands of the various times and so I did like those parts as it enabled me to relate to those periods of time.
Overall this book really didn't do it for me. I felt it was long at over 400 pages, drawn out and protracted. Bearing in mind this is one day - it felt like the longest day to me. Think of the TV series 24 and how that aired over many weeks!
There were parts I did like, such as the early childhood of Cass and her struggles with life. I could really relate to her being a young child and "grown up" things happening around her which she just couldn't understand - that is until many years later when she had a family of her own.
There didn't seem to be a pattern to the book, characters just came out of left field and I was left wondering who they were. I decided to just go with it and get to the end, hoping I would warm more to Cass, but unfortunately the opposite happened for me. Some characters popped up again and I was glad that Cass did reconnect with her past, and again those parts of the book I enjoyed more.
If this is ever made into a film I could see Bill Nighy playing Cass's boyfriend/husband Ivor. I am giving this book 3 out of 5 stars.
My thanks go to Netgalley for a copy of the book for review.
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