I have just finished reading Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson.
I loved it because it starts in the late seventies with a young girl (16) and her boyfriend (18). They live in Sheffield in their teens. Pop music from that time figures largely in the story, hence the book title. It really appealed to me as I was a teenager in the late seventies and knew all of the music e.g. Elvis Costello etc.
The story goes to the present time when the couple find one another again through social media. They are both married to other people.
I won't say anymore as it would spoil the plot but there would be quite a lot to talk about for a book club.
The other characters in the story are well drawn (in my opinion) so it isn't just about the two main characters.
I wouldn't say it is an intellectual book but it is well written and realistic.
This is the blurb:
'You never forget the one that got away.
Daniel was the first boy to make Alison a mix tape.
But that was years ago and Ali hasn’t thought about him in a very long time. Even if she had, she might not have called him ‘the one that got away’; after all, she’d been the one to run.
Then Dan’s name pops up on her phone, with a link to a song from their shared past.
For two blissful minutes, Alison is no longer an adult in Adelaide with temperamental daughters; she is sixteen in Sheffield, dancing in her skin-tight jeans. She cannot help but respond in kind.
And so begins a new mix tape.
Ali and Dan exchange songs – some new, some old – across oceans and time zones, across a lifetime of different experiences, until one of them breaks the rules and sends a message that will change everything…'
‘This grown-up love story is gorgeously written and romantic without being sentimental’ Good Housekeeping
'This tender tale of second chances... is a nostalgic delight' Sunday Mirror
If you do choose this book, please let me know what your book club thought.
