I was looking forward to this book. I loved The Versions of Us, and this new one really appealed.
Cass Wheeler, a famous singer, who is making a comeback, is looking back over her life, over the course of one day, while getting ready for a party to celebrate her Greatest Hits album.
Cass is about my age, and her music is my kind of music.

Her story is told in episodes, interspersed with song lyrics, and at first I was drawn into the story.

Maria Cassandra Wheeler is the daughter of a London vicar, and his much younger wife, and I enjoyed the early part of the book, but once she left the family home to live with her Aunt, I found her increasingly annoying.
She has no connection with the people around her, including family, and seems to be able to drop them and take them up again at will, with no concept of the damage she is causing.

By the end of the book, I really didn’t care what happened to her, I was far more interested by some of the minor characters, and would liked to have known more of them.

Very disappointing.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orion Books for the opportunity to read this book.

I looked up Weidenfeld and Nicolson, the publishers of this book, on Twitter and they say they 'specialise in exceptional fiction and non-fiction'. I think it is fair to say that Laura Barnett's Greatest Hits comes into the category of exceptional fiction. I loved the author's debut work, The Versions of Us, but think I may like this one even more.

Retired and reclusive singer Cass Wheeler is putting together songs for a Greatest Hits album. As she listens to her songs as she tries to select them, she looks back on her career and reflects on her life. She has written hundreds of songs, had a eventful life, experienced love and loss and stopped singing ten years ago after a personal tragedy struck.

Each of the chapters of the book begins with the lyrics of one of Cass's songs and mentioned when it was written, which album it appeared on (if any) and who was involved in the production. An album of the songs will be released at the same time as the book, with singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams bringing Cass's songs to life. It's a really intriguing concept and I'm looking forward to hearing the songs.

Cass Wheeler is a wonderful character. The way her story is written going right back to her difficult childhood, following her singing career, her love life, motherhood and the sad losses in her life all helps to make her a fully rounded person. In fact she is such a strong believable character that it felt as though I was reading the biography of a real singer, rather than the story of a fictional character.

Greatest Hits is exactly the kind of book I enjoy. It moves effortlessly between past and present hinting at and revealing a little of what happened as the story progresses. Cass was a character I totally believed in and I so enjoyed reading her story. Even though she had known much sadness in her life, she had also known much joy and love and lived a full life. There were other terrific characters in the book too notably Cass's Aunt Lily, her assistant and friend Kim, Ivor her partner both musically and romantically, and her supportive friend Johnny. There were a lot of characters who moved in and out of Cass's life particularly in the music industry and I did on occasion lose track of who was who especially if they only made brief appearances but I'm sure that's down to my poor memory rather than any fault on the part of the author.

Greatest Hits is a book which I am sure will be a huge hit (pun completely intended!) when it's released. It's a book to lose yourself in as, along with Cass, you relive her life through her music and memories. It's a story about loving and losing and coming to terms with your past and is full of emotional highs and lows.

I loved this book, the idea of telling a story through a choice of songs is great, only problem was it made me cry while I was on a plane which got me some odd looks!

Thank you to Orion Publishing who provided an ARC via net galley in return for an honest review.

It was with a squeal of happiness that I downloaded the ARC to my kindle. The Versions of Us had been one of my favourite reads of 2015 and I nervously started reading Greatest Hits hoping that this would be one of my favourite books of 2017. Needless to say, it is, but my review cannot possibly do it justice. As Cass herself says about the writing process "when she did try to write about them, they seemed to lose something in the recollection, turn to hazy facsimiles of the lucid images projected in her mind"

Cass Wheeler is the singer/song writer who we are introduced to as a recluse in her 60's who has lived the last few decades hidden away in the country, away from the music industry and social life. She is pulling together an album of her greatest hits. Not the songs that sold the most, but the songs that tell the story of her life and hold the most meaning to her.

The songs that she chooses allow the reader to experience the pivotal moments in her life and the family and friends who have had the biggest impact on her. The mistakes that Cass feels she has made and gradual acceptance of her rich and varied life are all explored in her song lyrics and the memories that these lyrics spark in her. The songs and the emotions and meaning behind them that became so much a part of my life over the days that I read the book, I actually feel that Cass Wheeler is a real person and if I google her there will be a multitude of internet articles about her.

The writing is a dream, with musical echoes in the language used. One particular image that stuck with me was the way that the bees buzzing in the garden were described. It is evident that everything has been meticulously researched for the book, but never to the detriment of the story or the emotions hidden in the pages.

I held off finishing the book for as long as I was able, because I really didn't want Cass's story to end.
I shall be buying this in hardcover as soon as it is released.

I enjoyed reading this. Cass was an intriguing character, and I particularly liked the parts of the book dealing with her childhood - the story of her birth, her relationship with her father and everything that happens with her mother were brilliant and, by far, the best parts of the book for me. I also really liked Aunt Lily & her husband John - their kindness and understanding towards Cass was beautiful. It's after Cass runs away from them that I struggled a little, perhaps because I began to dislike Cass for her behaviour. I could understand why she was acting the way she was, but you could see it was going to end in disaster for her.
I wasn't always sure about the songs that began each section - I liked the idea of it, but without any music it was sometimes hard to 'feel' them, and they often seemed a little short! I also felt the book went on just a bit too long. I could see what was coming with Anna, and the run up to that dragged on rather along with the other loose ends to tie up. I think I would have given this more stars if it had finished a little faster. But generally, this was an enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed this. Something a little different to everything else out there.

I found this a brilliant and unusual read. It is a fictional biography of the flawed life and times of the British singer and songwriter Cass Wheeler. It rings so true and authentic that it is hard to credit that it is indeed fictional. Cass had been a wildly successful musician until her sudden and abrupt departure from the music scene when tragedy struck and she suffered a breakdown. This has not prevented a host of rumours and speculation as to what exactly happened to her.

Now in the present, Cass is in the process of selecting sixteen songs from her huge back catalogue which serve to inform us of her life story through the songs and lyrics. Each of the songs is the structure for this book. Nostalgia and memories pour out from Cass, going back and forth in time to illuminate her very full life and the artistic and compulsive drive within her that inspires the songs. What emerges is a poignant journey into the past that provides an opportunity to understand her mistakes and come to terms with all that life has thrown at her and find some measure of peace. She had an uneasy childhood, unsettled teenage years, marriage, separation, and became a mother with all the attendant demands that placed on her and having to come to terms with mental health issues. The mismatch between being a mother and a hungry and devouring music industry is outlined.

There is real emotional power to Cass's story and you really feel it in the narrative. The highs and lows of a life in music that captures an era in British cultural history. It gives an unfiltered personal history, with joy, love, failures, regrets and all that it takes to live delivered beautifully through the frame of the music, songs and lyrics which define Cass Wheeler. Such a wonderful and unusual read which I highly recommend. Thanks to Orion for an ARC.

Beautifully crafted and utterly beguiling from the outset.....as a lifelong Sandy Denny fan I really felt like It was written just for me! I shall be recommending it widely and can't wait to hear to the accompanying CD.

I found Greatest Hits to be an unusual and highly enjoyable read. Singer/songwriter, Cass Wheeler, chooses sixteen tracks of music to define her life. She has retired and is preparing to release an album of new material as well as an album of her greatest hits. Each chapter of the novel revolves around one of the new songs she has written remembering the past events that inspired them.

I loved the novel itself but was not much taken with the 'tracks' at the beginning of each chapter which is whyI have given it four stars not five. This is probably subjective as other readers may appreciate the song lyrics more than I did.

Thanks so much to Orion and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Greatest Hits.

3 stars. This was an easy going read, full of atmospheric writing and story telling.

It takes a while to get going but once it does you really start to connect with the story.

You get a real sense of the characters, good and bad and I liked the journey we go on interspersed with song lyrics.

This is ideal for curling up in bed on a rainy Sunday afternoon, immersing yourself in the characters and rooting for Cass.

Enjoyable.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this copy.

Sadly I didn't really enjoy this book - I struggled to get into it and found the current day story didn't work for me.

Barnett has invented a new genre altogether - it's biopic lit, taking us artfully through decades of music and society, as if you were there.

Ooooohh!!! Good book!! The intense and multi-dimensional aspects of love and loss are so extraordinarily spun throughout this richly textured, deeply layered story; while, at the same time, bringing life and even like-ability to the deeply flawed characters. Wow!! Loved it!!

Absolutely loved this - interesting characters, relatable storylines, and an interesting use of songs list structure to hang the story on, with present and past mixing to create the world of the main character Cass

First, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing novel. I'd not read Versions of Us but have bought it immediately upon finishing Greatest Hits.

I've had some personal difficulties that have left me, a 3-4 novel a week reader, unable to finish anything other than an occasional graphic novel. Greatest Hits changed that, gripping me immediately and immersing me in the fascinating life of Cass Wheeler. As a character, Cass is so real, so beautifully and empathetically written, that I had to Google her after finishing the novel, so convinced I was that she was real.

This is a story that feels vivid and plausible, full of rich relationships with their flaws and foibles. It is masterfully written and aware, with such a wealth of research into the times and the music industry that the reader completely suspends all disbelief and feels part of it. I could hear the chords, the rising voice, see the art installation (which dissolved me to tears), and the hope in the final paragraphs.

I cannot recommend this book enough and cannot wait to place it in the hands of my readers.