The Unfinished Symphony Of You And Me By Lucy Robinson

‘The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me’ is Lucy Robinson’s latest and third book.

Sally is an incredible singer but she sings only in her wardrobe where nobody can hear her. She’d rather join a nudist colony than sing in public. That is until she ventures to New York where a wild and heady summer of love and loss changes her forever. No longer able to hide in the shadows, Sally must return home to London to fulfill a promise she cannot break – to share her voice. But just as she’s about to embark on her new life, a beautiful man turns up on Sally’s doorstep bearing a sheepish smile and a mysterious hand-written message.

How did he find her? Why is he here? Does he hold the truth to what happened back in New York? And, with him back on the scene, will she still have the courage to step into the spotlight?

‘The Unfinished Symphony Of You And Me’ sees the welcome return of Lucy Robinson, back with her signature style of eclectic characters and witty dialogue.

The story is set in two tenses, the past and the present. In the present, Sally our leading lady has finally plucked up the courage to eventually to give up singing in her wardrobe and hiding her voice from the world and attends Opera School where she develops a welcome and brilliant confidence in herself and a new love interest in the form of one-shoed angry Hungarian Jans and Rolo loving Helen. But her past comes back to hunt her when her one true love, Julian ends up being her mentor and this is when the story sweeps back to the past when Sally goes to New York for the first time with her two best friends Fiona and Barney in her job as wardrobe mistress for the Royal Opera House and she meets Julian who changes her life forever.

With chapters alternating between past/present scenes we see how Sally’s life changes dramatically during that time in New York.

Around the time of its release, Lucy created a video with Joe Yule from Penguin explaining the meaning of some of the creative dialogue that is used in the book. Wonderfully inventive language and vivid descriptive imagery pretty much made this book a deliciously shocking story that was hilarious in so many parts.

As the story is seen solely through the narrative of Sally, we see the progression of her life, as her confidence builds and she comes out of her shell and creates new friendships, I particularly enjoyed this part of the book, as I adored Sally and thought she was a heartwarming character who deserved true happiness in life. With a cast of characters, are truly wondrous, especially Welsh Barry, an outspoken ballet dancer who was always brutally honest with Sally.

The story is prominently a funny love story but there is sad element to it, that creates a twist to the story as Sally struggles to deal with her wild cousin Fiona, who has come to depend on Sally for everything and takes her troubles out on Sally which does make for sad reading.

‘The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me’ is a deliciously wicked and funny story that was impossible to put down. With explicit dialogue and fun disasters, this book is a tale of growing confidence, putting old ghosts to rest and giving life a second chance. Beautifully written with an outstandingly pretty cover, Lucy has returned to the book world with one of my favourite books of 2014!

‘The Unfinished Symphony Of You And Me’ will be available to buy from 7th July 2014.