The Song is You

(Paperback)

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'He tapped at his iPod, feeling within a note or two whether each random offering could provide what he was craving ...skip, skip, skip, his temper rising, and then he felt it, just the opening chords ...He stopped punching his iPod's face, and he leaned back on the bench and wondered, marvelled, felt the world slowly reopening to him.' Julian Donahue is obsessed with his iPod. Each song that shuffles through 'that greatest of all human inventions' triggers a memory. There are songs for the girls from when he was single; there's the one for the day he met his wife-to-be, and another for the day his son was born. But when his family falls apart, even music loses its hold on him, and he has nothing. Until one snowy night in Brooklyn, when his life's soundtrack-and life itself-starts to play again. He stumbles into a bar and sees Cait O'Dwyer, a flame-haired Irish rock singer, performing with her band, and a strange and unlikely love affair is ignited. Over the next few months, Julian and Cait's passion for music and each other is played out, though they never meet. In cryptic emails, text messages, cell-phone videos, and lyrics posted on Cait's website, they find something in their bizarre friendship that they cannot find anywhere else. Cait's star is on the rise, and Julian gently guides her along her path to fame-but always from a distance-and she responds to the one voice who understands her, more than a fan but still less than a lover. As their feelings grow more feverish, keeping a safe distance becomes impossible. What follows is a love story and a uniquely heartbreaking dark comedy about obsession and loss. The Song Is You is a closely observed tale of love in the digital age that blurs the line between the longing for intimacy and the longing for oblivion. 'Phillips ...hits a pitch-perfect note in this heartbreakingly lyrical novel of love, loss, and the almost mystical power of music.' Booklist 'Phillips blents wiht, erudition and eccentricity.' The Times 'Prodigiously gifted ...reminiscent of Nabokov.' The Guardian

Author Bio

Arthur Phillips was born in Minneapolis in 1969 and educated at Harvard. His first novel, Prague, a US bestseller, was named a New York Times Notable Book, and received The Los Angeles Times/Art Seidenbaum Award for best first novel. His subsequent novels, The Egyptologist and Angelica, were both bestsellers and have been translated into twenty-five languages. His most recent book is The Song Is You. He lives in New York with his wife and two sons.