“Dunn writes great entertainment. Fans of towering beehives and classic hip-swaying, harmony-driven pop will definitely want to take a look.”
-Publishers Weekly
Whether you danced to the Supremes in your high school gym, or your introduction to beehive harmonies came courtesy of Jennifer Hudson’s Oscar-winning Dreamgirls performance, everyone has a soft spot for 1960s girl groups. Today’s Free Fridays selection, Meet the Annas, is a fun nostalgia trip with a murder mystery mixed in.
Once a high-flying girl group, The Annas were at the top of the rock ‘n’ roll charts. But when the British Invasion knocked them off their perch, lead singer Anna Dubower fell hard. After mounting an unsuccessful comeback attempt, Anna winds up mysteriously dead, putting an end to the era of The Annas.
But songwriter Dink Stephenson still carries a torch for Anna 30 years later, and decides to dig into her murder and finally get to the bottom of her untimely demise. With a quirky cast of characters and a fast-moving plot, Meet the Annas is the book world’s answer to a catchy bubblegum tune.
Once you’ve finished Meet the Annas, take another trip down memory lane with one of Dunn’s other rock ‘n’ roll novels.
Free Fridays Recommends
Each week, we ask our featured author to recommend a book or author that you may want to check out. Since authors are such passionate readers themselves, we thought you might like to find out what they love to read, too! Here’s what Robert recommends:
I love writing my musical fictions, but I also love reading as much as I can about the music I've always been enthralled with. My favorite group (somehow I don't think I'm alone): The Beatles. There's hardly a Beatles book that comes out I don't avidly dive into; I find their story always compelling, a tale I turn to when all other stories fail. Their rough-and-scuff beginnings in Liverpool, the wonder years in Hamburg, conquering America and the world, the ever-changing records, the tragic but perfect end ("the love you take is equal to the love you make") ... there's infinite magic there, and I just can't get enough.
There are many great Beatles books, but Jonathan Gould's Can't Buy Me Love is the one that first sprang to mind. Gould covers the lads' story every which way, as history, myth, literary crusade, and down and out rock n' roll. I highly recommend it.
By the way, John Lennon makes a cameo in Meet the Annas. In fact, all the Beatles worshipped the girl groups my novel is based on. Happy reading!
NOOK owners: go to shop and search for “Robert Dunn” to download his rock ‘n’ roll novels.
