Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

Where to start with how much I loved Daisy Jones & The Six? It’s a glorious evocation of the drug-fueled rock scene of the 1970s, and at the same time, it’s a deeply personal look inside the hearts and minds of rock gods, revealing them as ordinary people in an extraordinary time and place.

The book is presented as an oral history of the band, tracing it from early days to the huge flame-out at the peak of their success. The various band members, plus assorted producers, managers, rock critics, friends, and family, tell their version of the events. The accounts don’t necessarily line up. There are secrets that some know and others don’t; one person’s fond memory of a particular performance is another’s memory of bitter rivalry and slights.

The voices of Daisy and the others really come through. They’re unique personalities, despite there being so many of them. Through all these people, we really travel with the band on its climb to wild glory. Daisy is a rich-kid teen when we meet her, full of fire and energy and utter dissatisfaction. Her parents barely notice her, so she goes to the Sunset Strip to find a place for herself, first as a groupie, then eventually getting noticed for her raw talent and gorgeous voice as well.

Meanwhile, The Six — who started out as a pair of brothers with a talent for guitar — start to get gigs and develop a following. The band is full of talented musicians, but it’s lead singer Billy Dunne who’s the true rock star of the group, succumbing in the early days of the first tour to the lures of sex and drugs and non-stop partying. Billy’s wife Camila steps in to get him sober, and from then on, he’s pulled between his soul-deep commitment to his wife and daughters and the always present temptation of the out of control rock and roll life.

When Daisy records a duet with Billy (“Honeycomb”), the song is a huge hit, and eventually the idea is floated: Maybe Daisy should join The Six? Their voices and musical styles mesh perfectly. Daisy Jones on her own and The Six on their own were getting attention, but together, they’re superstars. In a mad frenzy of creativity, Billy and Daisy write the breakthrough album Aurora together, and the band seems destined to become the greatest rock and roll band of all time.

Daisy Jones & The Six gives us all the heartbreak of devastating love, both the requited and unrequited varieties, as well as the jealousies and competition and resentments that simmer below the surface of a group that wants to have equality, but sees two of their own becoming breakaway stars with all the power. We also see the expected ravages of the constant drug use, but here, it’s happening to the people telling us their story, so it’s particularly powerful and heartbreaking, even when we can see what terrible decisions they’re making.

I really don’t want to give too much away. This is a book that should be experienced. I love that the book includes all the song lyrics from the Aurora album at the back — and I also love all the fan club materials available here. How cool is that to see pieces of the album cover and the liner notes, as well as the band bios? Also, check out the trailer video:

Doesn’t that just make you wish you were there at one of their concerts? I know while reading the book, no matter how much I enjoyed reading the song lyrics, part of me was dying inside because I wanted to hear Billy and Daisy actually singing those songs! Did author Taylor Jenkins Reid have music to go with the lyrics? Inquiring minds want to know!

In terms of my reaction to the book, for Daisy, I got kind of a 70s Carly Simon vibe (in terms of looks, not voice or temperament). This isn’t necessarily because of her physical description in the book, but just the sense I formed in my own head. Something like these: (note: images scavenged from Pinterest)

And when Billy invites Daisy up to sing with The Six for the first time, I got this kind of feel in terms of the moment and their chemistry:

(Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve watched me some Shallow… couldn’t resist.)

Back to Daisy Jones & The Six: I loved it. It’s rock and roll, it’s the 1970s, it’s deeply personal, and it’s one heck of a powerful read.

I’m a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid (although I’m hanging my head in shame over not having read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo yet). She’s such a talented writer, and this book is simply a treat. Don’t miss it!

Interested in this author? Check out my reviews of:
After I Do
Forever, Interrupted
Maybe in Another Life
One True Loves

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The details:

Title: Daisy Jones & The Six
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication date: March 5, 2019
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley