Rachel Reviews: Diamond Star Halo by Tiffany Murray

There are some books, for whatever reason, that just manage to find their way into you more than others, like a tattoo and they become part of you in ways that others don't. These are your five star reads, where you finish reading and yet, the book remains in your consciousness afterwards AND whilst you have moved on to other reading material.

That is how I feel about Diamond Star Halo. The book is told in the first person by the eponymous Halo and she takes us from her birth, pretty much, through her coming-of-age to her adult life. There is one person though who is integral to Halo's story and that is Fred. I don't want to tell you too much about him as the joy is in the discovering for yourself but if I said that there is something about him, you'll get the gist.

The book has elicited comparisons with Wuthering Heights and you can see that in the relationship that Halo and Fred have but it is more than that as theirs is not the only passion that manifests itself in the book. And there is love in abundance, familial love as well, and Murray is very good at showing, through her dialogue and her prose, the warmth and conviviality that can be found in a strong family environment.

Which is a strange thing to say about a book which is set on a farm in rural Wales which has been converted into a recording studio and is visited by international musical artists, in which to record their albums (as they were known in the 1970s). You would not imagine that this would be a stable place or one where kids would thrive and yet, it is this place. Halo describes Rockfarm as a place of strength and fun rather than a place of iniquity and largesse although there is no doubt from the nature of its clientele, that this is also very much true of it.

I was struck by this book. It was funny, it made me cry, it was a little strange in places, Welsh to its core, intriguing. As well as being about passions that consume or can if we let them, it was about music and its enduring appeal. It was about charisma and growing up and finding and knowing yourself and I would urge you to give it a go: for the story and for Murray's prose.

As an endnote, it also mentions, in passing, places from my home, not just Wales, but the county where I grew up, which may have assisted in me having such a strong reaction to it. It was like a cwtch in word form, in some ways.

And, just in case the title is ringing a bell, it's a Marc Bolan lyric from "Bang a Gong (Get it on)", Marc Bolan and T. Rex being pioneers of Glam Rock in the 1970s. Bolan died at the age of 29 in a car crash.

Rachel Rating: 5/5 stars

Parts of this review were first published on Reedsy Discovery:

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