Nell Slattery is one of only two survivors of a horrific plane crash. She sustained few physical injuries, but can't remember a thing about her life before the crash. However, as she attempts to put the pieces of her former life together, Nell realizes what a bleak existence she was living.
Allison Winn Scotch (Time of My Life) deftly gives a light touch to what could be dour material in The Song Remains the Same. The cast of supporting characters (whom Nell has no memory of) suspiciously seem to be working to hinder Nell's search for her own identity. Nell's New Age mother keeps getting caught in one lie after another; Nell's cheating husband is determined to turn his wife's amnesia to his advantage.
Specifics of the crash are barely discussed in favor of Nell's disheartening discovery of her uptight previous self--nicknamed "The Ice Queen"--and her closet full of beige clothes. She becomes determined to reinvent herself as a vibrant, self-expressed woman who lives her passions; music is the only thing that jogs her foggy memory. (Hence the book's title.)
Winn Scotch's novel will cause any reader to daydream about the possibility of starting over and breaking free from the identity we present to the world. While there is surely frustration in forgetting one's past, The Song Remains the Same is a reminder that there is also a strange liberation in the obliteration of all that we know. --Natalie Papailiou, author of blog MILF: Mother I'd Like to Friend