And so is the BQ........so how could we (or anyone) ever resist this new novel about damaged souls finding love, solace and redemption in the rapturous appreciation of music......every kind of music, from Vivaldi to Aretha Franklin, from punk rock to Puccini, from the Beatles to Beethoven....
Specifically, vinyl music......music on those black discs with the little hole in the middle, music unleashed when a needle rides the grooves pressed into them......
In 1988, in his little record shop on a crumbling, gone-to-seed English street, vinyl LPs are the only kind of music Frank sells. He abhors and refuses to join in the coming CD revolution, even if it means the record companies will stop selling him product.
Frank and his shop are beloved by the neighborhood and his small, quirky bunch of fellow store owners.......especially for his uncanny ability to select the perfect music for every customer's needs, moods and emotional wants. He comes by this talent at great cost.......his eccentric mother taught him the joys of all music, but little else.......leaving him as an emotionally stunted, remote adult, incapable of ever committing to a loving relationship.
Love finds Frank anyway, in the person of Ilse Brachmann, a mysterious, beautiful young German woman who faints in front of his shop one day. Enigmatic in the extreme, a keeper of sad secrets, Ilse captivates Frank and asks him to introduce her to music......
And that's as far we'll go in plot description........this book sucked us into it, seduced us with its gentle humor and love of every variety of music, then smashed our heart to pieces before painstakingly re-assembling it for the story's grand, satisfying finale.
Yes, we're well aware that the template for this book has already gotten a thorough workout from numerous romance writers (the shop owner, usually of a bookshop or a bakery, who attends to everyone's needs till they find love themselves). And we credit author Rachel Joyce for showing no shame whatsoever in creating her own spin (no LP album pun intended) on this well worn story.......
Jaded, cynical and sarcastic as we normally behave, we really should mock the last third of the book.......in which Joyce concocts a combination funny/suspenseful/tear-inducing climax that rivals and far outdoes the most heart-tugging finishes of Richard Curtis romcoms like "Notting Hill" and "Love, Actually". The manipulative corn factor here flies off the charts.......but we devoured every last sentence.
No better way to warm yourself up on these cold winter nights then to curl up with this one. BQ says pick up a copy now......4 tuneful stars (****) for this music shop.
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