Diamonds

By James Eddy

James Eddy's spellbinding collection of short stories, circles the lives of Scott Drake, a British singer-songwriter, and Rebecca, the passionate, intelligent young woman he had once loved and may yet love again. The revelation of both their shared and individual pasts is only the beginning of a story that features the contributions of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. A man lost in love, a compulsive young thief, a single mother in the twilight of her youth, and a middle-aged man grieving the death of his mother and his lost dreams, all form the foreground and background to the larger story; of love lost, delayed and denied.
We first meet Scott in his early twenties, running away from his guilt at the death of a friend by trying to help another. Five years on, he has found success as a musician but his feelings have changed very little; there is the same guilt as before, along with even more that has been piled on top of it, while his ability to self-destruct has not been diminished by the years. We learn the causes of these things and the sadness that can come with survival.
We meet Rebecca at the moment she decides that she has to take a chance to see Scott again - at one of his gigs she finds a way backstage to meet him, her name opening doors in ways she hadn’t expected. We then encounter her aunt, Lily, and cousin, Diane, as circumstances envelope them all and place further obstacles into the path of her and Scott.
Written in an array of styles and tones ranging from tragedy to surrealism to poetry, Diamonds is a book about the interplay of love and death, about survival, and about how hope can be nourished and set into motion by even the smallest of words and gestures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Eddy
• Release date: Dec 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310036484

James Eddy

James Eddy was born in Braintree, Essex in April 1980. After moving first to Colchester, Essex, the family settled in South Norfolk and James was able to enjoy the wide open spaces and quiet of the area which fed his imagination. Following an undistinguished University career, he began writing scripts for films and acting out the cliche of the drunken writer. He diversified by moving into prose and eventually focussed enough to write a collection of Short Stories called 'Diamonds' along with several other short stories a novel and novella. He released 'Bewilder', the first story from 'Diamonds' in April 2012.

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Reviews for Diamonds

[bluepigeon-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Diamonds is a collection of short stories about a set of related characters. Each story focuses on one or two characters throughout the events of a particular time period, which is woven together with other characters in the other stories. Events seem to move roughly in chronological order. James Eddy certainly has a melancholic voice that rings through several different characters with the overwhelming themes of love and loss.I am a bit on the fence about the writing in this collection. There are blatant grammatical errors that could have been avoided with some diligent editing, and normally, I would quit reading after giving the first story a try, and read through my irritation. However, the story did pull me in enough to let go of the grammar, and I found myself interested in what happens next and who is who and how will it end for everyone. In that regard, Diamonds was a good read. Recommended for those who like diaries, small towns, and music.Thanks to Goodreads First Reads for a free copy of Diamonds.