ShortBookandScribes Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson – the Book and the TV Adaptation #BookReview

Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson is published and Transworld/Bantam is is out now. My copy is actually a proof from *embarrassed blush* 2020. It was one of my most highly anticipated reads of that year but I didn’t fit it in at the time and I’ve been meaning to read it ever since. I’m sure some of my fellow bloggers will empathise. So thank you to the publishers and sorry it took so long.

It’s the recent television adaptation that prompted me to pick up the book as I wanted to watch it and I don’t think any book is ever the same if you’ve already seen the film or tv series. Further down I share a few thoughts on the series too.

You never forget the one that got away….

Daniel was the first boy to make Alison a mix tape.

But that was years ago and Ali hasn’t thought about him in a very long time. Even if she had, she might not have called him ‘the one that got away’; after all, she’d been the one to run.

Then Dan’s name pops up on her phone, with a link to a song from their shared past.

For two blissful minutes, Alison is no longer an adult in Adelaide with temperamental daughters; she is sixteen in Sheffield, dancing in her skin-tight jeans. She cannot help but respond in kind.

And so begins a new mix tape. Ali and Dan exchange songs – some new, some old – across oceans and time zones, across a lifetime of different experiences.

Until one of them breaks the rules and sends a message that will change everything…

Sheffield 1978 and Daniel and Alison are embarking on a teenage romance, boosted by their shared love of music. Daniel makes Alison a mix tape (remember those?!) and she’s never felt more loved than when she’s with Daniel, also finding a kind of safe haven with his family. Decades later, Alison has a very different life in Adelaide when a chance message from an old pal brings Daniel back into her life. They say you never forget your first love and although Daniel and Alison have made new lives, it takes no time at all until they’re settling back into rediscovering the invisible thread between them that has never been broken.

Mix Tape is a lovely read, often one of emotional angst and very sad in places, but it’s ultimately uplifting too. Given that it’s about two people who are married to other people, the author hits just the right note to engender sympathy for Daniel and Alison from the reader which I don’t think is an easy thing to achieve with this kind of storyline. It’s nostalgic and I particularly loved being transported to late 70s Sheffield. The sense of place is strong and I felt glad that the author made my home city so recognisable whilst bringing the other locations of Edinburgh and Adelaide to life.

Music is key to the story and so I enjoyed following the song choices throughout the book. It’s hard to long for an outcome that causes pain to some of the characters but I absolutely loved the ending, having a quiet little sob when I got there. I’ve been meaning to read this book since it was published. It’s taken me a while but I’m so glad I read Mix Tape. It’s a complex and moving story which is more than just a romance. I came for the love story and the Sheffield setting but stayed for the emotional and often messy journey the two main characters go on over such a long time. I thought it was a very enjoyable book.

After reading the book I watched the four part drama which I discovered from the credits is written by none other than Jo Spain. It’s really well-adapted from the book and the actors do a great job at putting across the heartfelt message of the story, that here we have two people who have never forgotten or really got over each other, despite the very different paths their lives have taken.

I thought it a shame that the timeline in the past was brought forward by ten years which changed the pivotal music choices from those of the late 70s to the late 80s. However, if I hadn’t read the book I wouldn’t have known or cared about that at all. There were a number of other changes which is inevitable in a book to screen adaptation, although one or two minor things were altered that I felt could easily have been kept in. One of the most beautiful scenes in the book, one that made me cry, wasn’t anywhere near as poignant as it was in the book.

On the whole though, this is a beautifully executed drama of lost love and the two main characters are played to perfection by Jim Sturgess (who does a solid Sheffield accent) and Teresa Palmer.

JANE SANDERSON is a writer and journalist. She worked as a producer for BBC Radio 4 on The World at One and Woman’s Hour before becoming a novelist. She lives with her husband in Herefordshire, and they also have a houseboat in London.