Street Song: A Format

by Emma Blair

Susan's parents had wanted a son, and they did little to hide their disappointment with her. As soon as it was decently possible, they packed her off to boarding school. If only they could have known what she would become. In the tradition-bound Scotland of the 1920s, there was no place for a woman like Susan—but she was determined to find one.

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Iain Blair was born on 12 August 1942 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was an actor and writer, married with the also writer Jane Blanchard. Initially he wrote plays for theatre and television, but later began to write novels. He started out writing suspense novels as Iain Blair, but after being unsuccessful with this genre, switched to writing popular historical romance fiction sagas. But according to his Web site, Iain Blair's publishers decided he'd sell far more books simply by being published as a woman because is a women's fiction genre. "I was given absolutely no choice in the matter. They'd decided on a sex change and even the name. So that was that. Emma I became and Emma I've stayed." His true identity remained a secret until 1998 when his novel Flower of Scotland was nominated for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association Awards, which required him to admit to being the author. He passed away on 3 July 2011 in Torquay, Devon, England.

Reviews

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was somewhat disappointed in this book only because on the back of the book it lets you believe the story is about a young woman named Susan who was sent off to boarding school at age 4 and throughout her growing years hardly saw her parents. Meanwhile the story is actually about two men who meet during the war in Germany and their ensuing relationship through the years. Susan is vaguely mentioned at all. The story itself was good although I wanted to smack the character Kirk, he was such a jerk.

[Susan Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful - did the men really just take advantage of the women in them days? Hoping in and out of bed? I think with some of “Emma’s” books you can tell they are written by a man. Stopped on page 97 and book consigned to a charity shop. However I do have others by “Emma Blair” to read so will work my way through them!

[? ? · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book even though it’s objectively terrible :)

[Proxy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to read , but it could have justified the summary behind the book.
Could have been more of susan.