DARKENING SONG by Delphine Seddon
9781250373229
3/10/26
Saturday Books
Fiction / Women
DARKENING SONG is a fiercely feminist and haunting debut about an icon, the woman who discovered her, and the devastating cost of the spotlight.
At eighteen, Eve is a record company intern scanning videos when she hears it: a pure, powerful voice filled with inner torment. Though Eve doesn’t know the first thing about management, she knows she’s found a star. She convinces sixteen-year-old Alora to trust her, and the gamble pays off. Almost overnight, Alora is catapulted into global stardom with a #1 album in fifteen countries.
Told through a dual-timeline and dual-POV narrative, the story explores the blurred lines between friendship and business. It captures how Eve’s drive for success left her blind to the client and friend she was supposed to protect. Now eighteen and in rehab, Alora must face the pieces of her past infiltrating the present as the truth of her meteoric rise finally unfolds.
As a lifelong music fan who grew up treating Rolling Stone magazine as a sacred text, I was captivated by this story, especially knowing it was inspired by the author’s own experience at a top UK talent agency. It is wild to see how two women, nearly identical in age, can experience such vastly different versions of the same industry. This story is also a raw exploration of mental health that peels back the layers of a toxic music industry. Seddon expertly dissects how the business commodifies young women, stripping away their self-worth. By weaving in themes of social media ethics, censorship, and digital intrusion, the narrative feels urgently relatable to what’s happening today.
If you were captivated by the rock-and-roll electricity of DAISY JONES AND THE SIX but crave the unflinching, psychological bite of MY DARK VANESSA, this book will be your new obsession. Read it with the volume turned up.
Happy reading!
<3 Hallie
“DARKENING SONG is a taut and haunting look at modern stardom. Ferociously written and moving.”—Isabel Banta, author of HONEY
“As Alora’s mental state changes, Seddon expertly shifts the novel’s tone so that readers can truly understand what the teen star is going through. Suggest to readers of Kate Elizabeth Russell’s MY DARK VANESSA (2020).”—Booklist
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