Published by Penguin Random House
AFTER her vastly successful historical fiction full of 1950s Hollywood glamour – The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo,Taylor Jenkins Reid has shifted focus to rock bands of the 1970s for her next.
This, like her previous work, demonstrates a unique writing skill in creating fake celebrities that begin to feel real. She captures the essence of this type of person so well it’s like they’ve always been there as a part of our culture, but try to find a Daisy Jones and The Six album and you’ll feel a slight disappointment when remembering it doesn’t exist. Fortunately, Amazon Prime are currently working on a miniseries based on the story.
Daisy Jones, daughter of a wealthy couple, her father a painter and her mother a model, has a stunning natural beauty and singing talent but grew up without their attention or care. To avoid loneliness she hangs about with musicians who don’t care about her age, and the drugs and alcohol flow too fast, habits that follow her through life.
The only true solace she finds is in writing song lyrics, but when she does sign a record deal it’s to sing what’s written for her. That is, until she meets The Six.
The Six are a talented rock band on the rise to fame created by brothers, lead guitarist Warren and songwriter and frontman Billy Dunne. With Daisy’s first album growing in popularity and The Six in need of a real hit single she’s invited to help them on a song named Honeycomb. It is with this song that everything changes.
When Daisy and Billy sing together that there is something uniquely captivating about the combination of their talents, even if they do fight almost every moment and come to hate each other. They begin a chaotic story that was never meant to be the one told but that’s picked up by Rolling Stone and helps to skyrocket their fame instantly. The question everyone asks seeing them perform with each other, is it truly hate or love that Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne have for each other.
Billy’s frustration with Daisy stems from their shared addictions but where Billy is sober and working on his marriage, Daisy is the furthest thing from it, a danger that both intimidates and calls to him.
As the band create an unforgettable album and rise to unimaginable heights of fame, so do the personal problems they face within their group.
While Daisy and Billy always see themselves at the centre of attention, in this book great care is taken with the way that impacts the other characters and their often unnoticed conflicts. Every band member is given space to tell their story in this fast paced interview style novel.
On surface this is a rock n roll novel that feels like reading celebrity gossip, but at its is a tale of addiction, unrequited love and what goes on behind the scenes of seemingly perfect lives. This is an unforgettable novel for any music lover.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here