The Song is You (2009)
by Arthur Phillips
Julian Donahue is in love 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.Called 'one of the best writers in
America' by The Washington Post, the bestselling author of Prague delivers his
finest work yet in The Song Is You. It 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.
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.Called 'one of the best writers in
America' by The Washington Post, the bestselling author of Prague delivers his
finest work yet in The Song Is You. It 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.