Richard & Judy Introduce A Song of Me and You by Mike Gayle

Such a compelling, deceptively simple plot, this. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl split. Girl goes to uni; boy’s in a band. She becomes a mum – eventually, an abandoned one. He becomes a rock-god – eventually, a troubled one. Twenty years after they split, he shows up on her doorstep. Is this their second chance? If only life was that simple… enjoy! We did!

Richard's Review:

This review is aimed squarely at readers of a certain age who remember a classroom romance with the usual mix of emotions – tenderness, amusement, possibly regret, and, yes – curiosity. Perhaps you haven’t seen your playground paramour for years; decades even. What have they become? What do they look like?

For Helen, in Mike Gayle’s touching and thought-provoking A Song of Me and You, the answers to both those questions are not hard to find. She may have parted from Ben when they were both 18, both to go their very separate ways, but Helen knows EXACTLY what he looks like 20 years on, and EXACTLY what he’s become.

Because while Helen disappeared into anonymous university life, fate took a somewhat different turn for Ben. He joined a band. The band had hits. Ben is now a bone-fide, multi-millionaire rock star. And he’s about to arrive on Helen’s doorstep.

Judy's Review:

Ben may have ended up in the endless sunshine of L.A., Helen stayed in Manchester, working as a part-time teacher. Today she’s mother of two teenagers and wife to a husband she’s just been stunned to realise has been cheating on her.

Left all alone in the house after her love-rat husband whisks the children away for a week, standing in an old T-shirt and tatty jeans, Helen decides to run a bath. What else is there to do?

The doorbell rings. Another bloody courier. Helen reluctantly goes to the door and opens it.

It’s the man who was once the love of her life. Today he’s the object of a million female fantasies and desires. And he wants to come in.

Mike Gayle’s wonderful story takes us on an unforgettable emotional journey. Can we ever go back? Does life offer second chances? Do people ever really change? A perfect summer read.