With her second novel, The Lost Love Song, Darke (Star Crossed) composes a complex and entertaining story of lives that interweave in surprising ways. This time, instead of astrology, Darke's unifying device is a song, whose journey winds across the world, from Australia to Singapore to London to Vancouver. Begun by concert pianist Diana Clare as a tribute to the man she loves, the song takes a number of unexpected turns before eventually finding its way home.
Back in Melbourne to teach master classes after a world tour, Diana surprises Arie, the tech support guy, by asking him to lunch. Seven years later, the couple is firmly ensconced in the house of Diana's dreams, with a bay window for her Steinway grand. There's just one problem: Arie proposed--four and a half years ago--and Diana still isn't sure she wants to be married.
On the eve of another world tour, Diana jots down most of the love song, though it's missing an ending. When tragedy strikes one of her flights, Arie is left feeling that their story, and his life, also lacks resolution. But the song is only beginning its journey. Darke crafts an inventive tale of vivid characters who connect with the song: the widower who picks up Diana's notebook in a Singapore hotel, the lovestruck teenagers who perform the song as a duet, a Canadian banjo player in search of inspiration.
Clever, warm-hearted and a touch bittersweet, with an ending as satisfying as the plagal cadence Diana loves, The Lost Love Song will have readers hoping for all of Darke's characters to find true happiness. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams