Lost Love Song

I’m writing this review just moments after finishing this beautifully romantic book, so I still have a lump in my throat and I’m torn between the desire to capture how I feel in words or go to Spotify and create the musical playlist the author has created for her characters, to stay in the emotions of the book. I feel such a bittersweet sense of love lost and love found, of reinventing oneself, and building a completely new life. This feeling is so bound up with my own life story, that the ending was particularly poignant. I have been where Arie is, but I’ve also been where Evie is. I have felt that confusing sense of falling in love, when I haven’t fully healed from loss. I have also been that open hearted girl, willing to leap in with both feet in that dangerous all or nothing way, only other ‘leapers’ would understand. I have felt that pain of not being wanted enough, of being the wrong person or even the right person at the wrong time.

Minnie Darke’s book centres on music, mainly in the form of a book that once belonged to the beautiful concert pianist Diana Clare. Diana was greatly in demand and flew all over the world to play and record with different orchestras. Known for her flaming red hair, her signature red dresses and the Converse trainers she preferred to play in wherever she was. The book of music belonged to Diana and in it she’d been writing a love song for her long term boyfriend Arie. Arie was a self-confessed computer geek (in my head he looked like Richard Ayoade) who met Diana at the music academy where she studied, when asked to fix a problem with her computer. They seemed opposites, Diana was mercurial and hard to pin down, whereas Arie was solid and even tempered, but what Diana was trying to show him was that when put together, they were like a pair of musical notes that when played together created perfect cadence. Arie only heard her song once, she played it one night when he brought up the question of why, after seven years together, they weren’t married yet. Diana didn’t feel the same urgency, but played the song to show him how much she felt, when words failed her. Sadly, Arie never hears the song again because the next morning, Diana leaves their home in Australia for a concert in Europe. Her plane, flown by Air Pleiades, disappears into the sea after the cabin fails to pressurise the cabin correctly and all the passengers and crew succumb to hypoxia.

Arie feels like their time together is like the part written song, never finished just left hanging in the air without a conclusion. He retreats into his world, living in their house where Diana’s Steinway still sits in the bay window. He still observes festivals with Diana’s distraught mother Belinda such as their apricot jam making day, bonfire night and of course Diana’s anniversary and birthday. There is a beautiful tenderness to the way Arie treats this broken hearted older woman, whilst knowing a time will come when he disappoints her, by making changes or maybe one day moving on. For now he’s okay where he is, treading water. Until one day a few years later he notices that the Air BnB next door is occupied again. He notices the young woman with her Cleopatra dark bob and an easy air of style. This is Evie and one evening, he notices her in the garden. Then he hears a familiar piece of music he’d thought was lost. She’s playing Diana’s song so quietly and tentatively, picking out the chords as if she’s piecing it together by memory.

In fact that’s exactly what Evie is doing because she doesn’t have the music. She heard it being played by a young flautist and cellist as she was leaving Waverley Station in Edinburgh, travelling towards Melbourne. The players were so absorbed in their music and each other, clearly in love. It piques her interest, because she’s walking away from a relationship where she wasn’t loved enough. She has resolved to not be involved with someone ever again unless they truly want her. He must find her and want her as much as these musicians clearly want each other. Darke tells her story through these main chapters that alternate between her and Arie, but there are musical interludes where we follow Diana’s notebook. It slowly wends its way through different people, from different musical backgrounds like classical orchestra to bluegrass. This is such a clever way of following the musical theme, but never forgetting our main pair as they move through the world.

Evie and Arie are possibly perfect together, but does such love come twice in a lifetime? Their tentative friendship is so fragile and I was desperately wiling it to work for both of them. I thought the author handled the emotions of being widowed with such knowledge and care. I’ve been there and have felt every one of Arie’s emotions, but that huge question of moving on is the most pertinent here. When we build a relationship with our in-laws they become our family. For me, and for Arie, that relationship continues after the loss of our partner. I felt that no one understood the enormity of my loss more than my brother and father-in-law, I wanted to continue that relationship with them and keep them as my family, to reminisce and celebrate my husband’s life. Then as time passed and I continued to live, I was very conscious of not upsetting them, respecting my husband’s memory and keeping them part of the new life I was creating. I made mistakes and it added to my pain, the feeling that I’d let them down. Now there is just me and my sister-in-law left and we talk a lot, and try to support each other even from her home on the other side of the world in New Zealand. We keep each other up to date on our children/step-children and reminisce about our husbands (and what a pair of rascals those brothers could be when they got together).

In this book, Arie doesn’t know how to reconcile these two parts of his life; the left behind and the moving on. Perhaps made more complicated, because just like the music Diana leaves behind, there was no real conclusion to her death. One minute she was there and the next, far away, she was gone and there was no funeral. Just the terrible knowledge she was lost somewhere under the sea. It takes Evie’s poetry to express this inbetween place, her talent for just the right words to capture a maelstrom of emotions is similar to Diana’s ability to convert emotion into musical notes. What stands out above everything in this novel is how artistic expression can explain, contain and elevate human experience. Most importantly, in Arie’s case, what comes across so strongly is art’s eventual power to heal.






This is the opening review of the blog tour organised by Random Things Tours

Diana Clare has never been able to tell Arie Johnson how she truly feels about him. After he proposes and she hesitates to decide, Diana decides to compose a song that will put all her feelings for him to music. Yet the song travels with her on her world tour overseas and is heard by another, touching many people in its journey around the world. Meanwhile Evie Greenlees, is contemplating leaving Edinburgh, Scotland, hoping to find the person who will really want her.
This is such a magical story, with many interwoven stories, all fascinating in their detail, and integral to the story of Diana, Evie and Arie. Whilst I would love to explore every aspect of this book in the review, to do so would not do justice and would take away from this poignant love story. Darke is a skilled storyteller, who tells a story full of hope without dwelling in the sadness that is so clearly evident in the story. She brings such depth to the central characters, yet characters linked to the story, whilst only making brief appearances, are dealt with enough detail that without them, the story would have been lacking.
This is definitely a book to savour. I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

‘What was that thing you were playing?’ he asked. She looked up at him and shrugged. ‘Just a . . . song.’ ‘It was beautiful.’ He was right. It was beautiful..’

Love music? Then this tale is sure to take you on an enchanting journey as the musical notes reach far and wide, touching lives in a story centred around love and loss. A bittersweet story surrounding the inception of a love song, a song that was lost then found and ultimately travels across continents impacting upon those that hear the notes - notes that say so much more than words ever could. Yet, mind you, Minnie’s writing here is absolutely exquisite at times:

‘Emotionally, he felt her pulling away from him, like a tethered boat in a storm. The ropes were creaking, and there were days when the idea of letting go of her was so tempting, to the point that it sometimes even seemed like the right thing to do. But then he would look more closely at the horizon of that particular storm and know that he had to hold on, no matter what–even if she slammed against him with all her power, even if she broke him apart.’

The journey of this song is told through an array of serendipitous interactions between those who come within earshot of this musical composition. The reader witnesses the journey and the impact the music has on them in their current situation. There are a number of characters (too many?) who each contribute unknowingly to not only the passage of the song but also both the song and the listeners overall evolution. At times you will question the introduction of yet another new character/link until it becomes clear what their purpose is on this seemingly predestined journey. Some of the interludes are more relevant and engaging than others. The ending, of course, is to be expected yet this is a story about a love song so that can hardly be surprising.

‘She wondered, as she read, if the process of growing up was the process of learning not to want, or to squash the wanting deep down inside you where it couldn’t be seen and could only be felt dimly, until something happened to sharpen its edges. Like hearing a love song in a train station.’

A love story it is, yet with such a unique twist, not only through the song itself, but also the chain of events that witnesses ‘love’ celebrated in all its many forms - lovers, friends, family etc. This is clever storytelling about the power of music and the role of hope in our lives and the possibility of second chances. It is beautifully written and the overall theme concerning the universal language of music is heart soothing. Recommended for some sweet escapism.

‘I don’t think you’re meant to believe that it really does end there,’ she’d told him. ‘I think you’re meant to believe that it goes on and on, forever and ever.’





This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was so much more than a romantic story about 2 people falling in love. The author skilfully writes a beautiful tale of love, music and seemingly random coincidences. I loved the characters of Evie and Arie and I loved how Minnie Darke introduced new characters that linked together and played a part in the journey of 'the lost love song'. I would recommend this book to any romantic book reader.
Thank you to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for an advance reading copy of this book.

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

This is a gorgeous book
It was arresting and I found it so emotional

I loved the use of music - it made me want to find out more about the songs and as I went through found myself playing the songs whilst reading the book. Absolutely unique - I've never felt this way about a book - ever !! So different

I loved the way the story interweaved the different types of love

This is a book I shall be coming back to and re - reading and that doesn't happen often
Can't rate or recommend highly enough

A beautiful romantic novel, not my usual style (I’m more of a mystery lover) but I really enjoyed it. It was a very pleasant read and I found really interesting how the song brings all the characters together.
Thank you to Random House UK and NetGalley for letting me review this book.

A beautiful book that takes the reader on an emotional and musical journey around the world and back. In parts heartbreaking , in parts whimsical, in parts exhilarating and always intriguing.

A sound track plays in your head as well as for the cast of characters and makes one want to look up places and songs.

I loved the way different types of love were portrayed and were important to the weaving of the story, parental love, first love, grief stricken memories, comfortable familiar love, past love, passionate love and so on. These all had their part to play and helped link the separate characters and enabled their lives and stories to Intermingle and merge.

The Lost Love Song is a beautifully written story of how a love song takes a journey around the world and brings people together. I honestly loved that aspect of the book, getting to know the different characters and how this song helped shape their life.

This book covers a range of themes from new love, grief, family and friendship but at it’s forefront it’s a story about second chances. It became impossible to put down and I was honestly gutted when it finished.

It’s hard for me to delve into these characters without spoiling the story and the journey this book takes you on. I can’t explain the way this book entwines so many lives in ways I could have never had guessed.

So pick up The Lost Love Song. Go on this adventure with these characters and this song. You won’t regret it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK – Transworld Publishers for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The narrative that runs through this gorgeous book was tuned to perfection. Arie and Diana fell deeply in love and while Arie is keen to take the next step into marriage, Diana is less sure. Not because she doesn't love Arie enough, just because marriage seems unnecessary. She finds it hard to put into words how she feels, so being a piano prodigy, she composes a love song for him that she hopes will show him just how deeply she loves him.

Arie hears her playing, but the song is incomplete. Away on tour, she completes the song. But before she can play it to Arie, tragedy strikes.

But this love song is determined to be heard. A list of characters all linked by this one haunting song ensure this song will make its way to all those who need to hear it. A single father, a young couple falling in love for the first time, a grieving mother. A beautiful soul, Evie, who is lost and yearning to be seen and loved for who she is.

As Arie struggles to come to terms with the loss of his love, he feels adrift. When Evie moves into the house next door, he hears the notes of her guitar playing, and recognises the song she is playing. All she knows is that she heard it being played at a train station, by two teenagers clearly in love. As Arie and Evie get to know one another it is clear that they could have something amazing. But Arie is too consumed with thoughts of the past, and worries about the future and it seems their story is over before it has begun.

But the lost love song has found its way around the world, changed, but in essence, still pure. This song is to bring Arie and Evie back together in the most beautiful conclusion to this wonderful story.

A beautifully intricate portrayal of love, of grief, of second chances. The power of music, the power of connection, the power of hope and of courage in daring to open your heart again.. I adored every single word. The plot brought all the characters together in such a clever way and The Lost Love Song is one of those stories that will capture your heart and soul.

This is a book I had to force myself to put down and get on with real life!.
I am not a musician, but found myself humming my version of the love song.
'The Love Song', composed by Diana, transcription completed by Berne, variations by travellers around the world shows just how small the world is.
These uplifting connected stories of first love, lost love, forever love and all consuming love are linked by a tune. the characters are unforgettable and the story incredible.
Read, enjoy, cry, laugh and sigh - it really is that good!
loved the playlists at the end. lots of new to me songs and favourites too.

The lost love song by Minnie Darke broke my heart a little and then healed it right up again,
This is a delightful read with lots of soul and promise alongside tragedy and regret. I was sure the magical song was going to come back to Arie in Diana’s little notebook and was a little gutted that the notebook seemed to be tossed into a forgotten pile by everyone who “owned” it. That, however, actually was the thing which ended up assuring the spread of Diana’s beautiful, magical legacy across the world and with many people.
You will meet and get to know lovely characters, feeling their hopes, disappointments, pain and their great loves. The added bonus is that the story unfolds in different parts of the world, allowing us to journey geographically as well as emotionally. This was a beautiful story of love and hope. A treat indeed. I highly recommend this book.

A fascinating, engrossing and romantic story that kept me hooked till the last page.
Great storytelling and characters.
It's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

What a brilliant book, I just couldn't put it down.
Chronicled Arie's life so beautifully with its ups and downs. The way music cleverly linked all the characters around the world was so brilliant. Evie was a breath of fresh air, you could almost feel her vibrancy leaping off the page.
Cannot imagine what sort of world it would be without music.
Highly recommended

I absolutely loved this story! Beautifully written, a wonderful love story but the way the plot intertwined all of the characters as the story unfolded was wonderful. A truly romantic, feel good read which I highly recommend - in fact I already have to several friends!

I loved the start of this book, actually I loved the first two thirds, and thought the narrative was a really interesting and hopeful way to explore grief, love and relationships. There were some beautiful observations and the characters felt fully fleshed out. I didn't feel compelled to get back to it though, and there weren't any surprises in terms of how it resolved. I did feel the last third of the book just lost momentum and I wanted to spend more time with Arie and Beatrix, the characters from the first two narrative threads, who I felt most drawn to as characters.

“Music is the last thing we forget. [...] We’re wired up to feel something special when we hear music that reminds us of something.”

The Lost Love Song is the second novel by Minnie Darke, the author of last year’s bestselling novel Star-Crossed. This new book is a romantic story centred around one musical composition and it’s a tale about love, loss, and how the power of music can transform lives.

The book is rightfully named after a love song that gets lost… and then found, and found all over again. It’s a song that travels all over the world, passed on to the next person as an act of love. It begins its journey in Australia, when Diana Clare, a famous classical pianist, begins to compose a song for her long-time lover, Arie Johnson, to finally tell him what he’s been waiting to hear after she returns from her world tour. In Singapore, Diana finishes writing the song and is eager to come back to her lover so she can play it for him in its entirety. However, the song’s course takes a different turn when it falls into the hands of someone else. And therefore, the journey of this beautiful love song begins a tour of its own: from Singapore to London, Edinburgh, Canada, New York, and back to Australia. Will it find Arie again? You’ll have to read this enchanting tale to find out!

The song inspires and touches the lives of those it comes across with. First, it’s Bene Romero, who overhears it in Singapore and brings it back home to London where he shares it with her daughter Beatrix, a flautist who later plays the song to her cellist lover in Edinburgh —and together, each with their own instrument, they play a beautiful duet of the magical piece. That’s where Evie Greenlees, an aspiring poet who dreams of publishing her own book, hears it; and that prompts her to reassess her whole life, and so leaving a toxic relationship behind and ultimately deciding to go back home to Australia where she’ll retrieve her confidence and self-respect. In the US and Canada, the song (brought there by the cellist lover) helps brothers and couples reconnect and it encourages people to make the decisions they otherwise wouldn’t have had the courage to make. The song finds its way back to Australia, where it all began. This full-circle journey is followed through a series of interludes that are intertwined with the main chapters throughout the book, this is how we get to know more of these secondary characters and how they relate to the main story, that of Evie and Arie. The way everything connects to one thing and another is very beautifully done and wonderful to discover.

The novel also offers a very likeable set of characters. These are characters that aren’t perfect, because nobody is, and that’s what makes them human and more believable. Darke invested a lot in these secondary characters and that’s why they don’t feel flat. The reader can’t help but connect with their hopes and dreams and root for them every step of the way. These people face every-day struggles and deal with them the way any of us would, in the best way we can with the means we have.

Darke has a magnificent way of capturing the emotions we experience when we listen to music: songs are with us in our best and worst moments, they make us feel, and we even lose ourselves in them sometimes. The author describes this so well and portrays the effects of this song in such a beautiful way that it makes the reader wish they could listen to this love song as well. In addition, at the end of the book, there is a list of songs that inspired each character’s theme! It makes a nice little playlist to listen to whilst reading the book.

Furthermore, this novel unexpectedly deals with some more heavy subjects, through an event that could be deeply upsetting to some readers. However, Darke portrays grief and the reactions of others to those who are grieving with great sensitivity and honesty. The book shows how grief and the loss of someone dear to you can shake up your whole world and not allow you to live your life for you. It also shows that there isn’t one set and magical way of accepting a big loss, everyone deals with it in their own different way and at their own pace. But it ends up sending out a big hopeful message, it prompts characters (and the reader) to “live now”.

All in all, The Lost Love Song is a tribute to living and loving, with all its ups and downs. But ultimately, it’s solid proof of the power of music as a way to bring people together and to touch people’s lives. It’s not a standard romance contemporary, in the sense that it offers much more than just one love story. The Lost Love Song is a heart-warming, bittersweet, and moving story about life, loss, love, friendship, music, poetry, and second-chances. Perfect for music lovers and those who crave uplifting reads in these trying times.

This is the second novel I read from author Minnie Darke. I didn’t like the first one very much, but this one is realy nice to read. To story of Arie and Diana is hartbreaking, but the fact that she wrote a love song witch is travelling around the world is a great choice for this novel.
I likes the characters, Arie and Evie are nicely worked out, but also the characters in the “interlude” chapters are recognizable and lovely. Some chapers are a little to long with to much to tell, but overall is a really nice story. Al storylines come to an end in the end of the book, that’s well-done. The mystery of the writer of the lost love song is still going in, perhaps someone finds out once

I was invited to read this book and what a gem it is too! So glad that I got a chance to read this. Such a slow and gentle story. Just perfect after a gruesome murder story I'd read previously. Lots of characters are involved and it is easy enough to follow being at a gentle pace. There are even characters introduced at 85%. The ending tidies up all the pairing of the characters and even the long lost love song has it's own release, finally. It's a shame that Diana wasn't around to see the progress and attention the song got, eventually.

Highly recommended. Don't forget to think about what songs help you remember certain moments in your life. "Destiny" by Lionel Richie, "I Swear" by All for One and some more that aren't linked to my own relationship. What about milestones? What songs remind you of your milestones?

I love how Minnie Darke gives a list at the end of the book of all the different songs she listened to to help her have her characters. It's worth looking into that and giving them a play. I'll be doing that :) There is only one other author that I know that has done something like this with writing their book but it's more of listening to a certain group or album rather than a huge variety of music like Minnie.

Just sit back, relax and enjoy :)

Absolutely brilliant - I could not put it down and yet ......
When I started to read/review The Lost Love Song I thought to myself 'how did I manage to choose this book?' (given I almost totally read police/crime/mystery/psychological books).
I had a quick look at one or two NetGalley reviews for the book and noticed that someone had said it had been recommended to them by a publishing company. I then remembered that I had loved a similar book that had love story and music as the theme - Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson and I am sure this book was recommended to me as a result of my 5 star rating of it.
The Lost Love Song gets another 5 stars from me. The pace is perfect, has the right amount of happiness and sadness and you know/hope that it must surely have a 'live happily ever after' ending.
I felt certain I knew how it would end - all the links getting the song from it's creation to performance would be completed. But no, the book gives us a big twist at the end that got me thinking this is not how it should end. If I had written this review immediately after I would have given it only 4 stars but when I thought it bit more emotionally and rationally I realised this is the right and perfect ending.
Please don't miss this book.

A really beautiful, clever story following the journey of a love song and the people's lives it touches. Passed from one person to another and locations around the world, Darke shows how music can bring people together and executes perfectly how this connects them all.