Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers

Bucky Bronco is invited to Scarborough from America, a soul singer who had a onehit wonder back in the day and no longer performs. He is met at the airport by super fan Dinah, who drives him from Leeds Bradford Airport to the coastal town, “Scarbados” (they have a strong and dark sense of humour in Yorkshire) and already there is a sense that this trip will be memorable.

He is staying at The Majestic Hotel (it has great views, apparently, if you get the right room) but he quickly decides that this once stunning building “was haunted by its own sense of absence“. A typically English institution, much along the lines of hotels and lodgings described by David Nichol’s in You Are Here, places essentially that have seen better days and somehow litter the landscape of the country, reeking of history, dilapidation and lives lived. Yet Scarborough is rendered with a real fondness and insight, the hoards of gulls forming a noisy and oftentimes intrusive backdrop, with the North Sea so bound up in the fabric of the town....

Together, over just a couple of days, they bond in such a heartwarming way, which makes this a wonderful story. It doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects, but somehow the author blends them into the storyline and this somehow makes the narrative feel complete and rewarding.