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Published May 2023
240 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
Amy Key—a writer "of rare and strange magic" (Guardian)—probes the art of living without romance in this soul-stirring debut.
When British poet Amy Key was growing up, she envisioned a life shaped by love—and Joni Mitchell's album Blue was her inspiration. "Blue became part of my language of intimacy," she writes, recalling the dozens of times she played the record as a teen, "an intimacy of disclosure, vulnerability, unadorned feeling that I thought I'd eventually share with a romantic other." As the years ticked by, she held on to this very specific idea of romance like a bottle of wine saved for a special occasion.
But what happens when—the romance we are all told will give life meaning never presents itself?? Now single in her forties, Key explores the sweeping scales of romantic feeling as she has encountered them, using the album Blue as an expressive anchor: from the low notes of loss and unfulfilled desire—punctuated by sharp, discordant feelings of jealousy and regret—to the deep harmony of friendship, and the crescendos of sexual attraction and self-realization.
Finding solace in Mitchell's songs, Key plumbs Blue's track list for themes that resonate with her heart's seasons. Listening to the song "California," she explores the mixed emotions that come with traveling alone in a world built for couples; she juxtaposes the lonely lyrics of "My Old Man" with the pleasurable art of curating a perfect apartment for one; and with the utmost tenderness, she parses out her decision to not have children with the eloquent "Little Green."
Mapping the evolution of her early conceptions of love through her adulthood, Key offers a tender and nakedly candid celebration of the many forms of intimacy that often go unnoticed. An essential work for both the single and the partnered, Arrangements in Blue is a bold manual for building a life on your own terms.
"British poet and essayist Key (Isn't Forever) takes an intimate, idiosyncratic look at single life in her evocative first memoir ... Filled with lyrical turns of phrase, this insightful take on living solo will appeal to poets, dreamers, and anyone marching to the beat of their own drum. It's a lush and moving memoir."
―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The author writes well about Mitchell's music, but many readers will be uninterested in the dull story of her not becoming a single parent and the dreary scenes from her solo vacations." —Kirkus Reviews
"Straddling positivity and cynicism, pride and despair, Key's artful inquiry asks us to question our focus on romantic love and consider all that remains outside of it and all that could flourish there, if we let it." —Booklist
"[Key's] nonfiction debut is a courageously honest meditation on her partnerless life, and her inward and outward search for all the things a soulmate was supposed to deliver. Key's deeply introspective quest is not just a hunt for what's missing, but for what she has overlooked… [As] Key's book demonstrates, there should be no shame in desiring intimacy, or seeking it outside the confines of romance. And those of us who experience long-term singleness need a broader emotional palette than blue." —The Guardian
"A beautiful, painful, liberating book. Amy Key writes with such tenderness and insight about a life without romantic love at its centre, exacting as to its impoverishments, exultant over its many and unexpected riches."
―Olivia Laing, author of The Lonely City
"Profound and poetic, vulnerable yet brave, I devoured Amy Key's memoir about love, loss, memory and hope. An incredible writer, a stunning debut."
―Lisa McGee, creator of Derry Girls
"There is a whole life pulsing within these pages, written with both clarity and eloquence, a glittering brightness that glints like stars in a navy velvet sky. A book to be read in astonishment and in admiration. Bewitching."
―Doireann Ní Ghríofa, author of A Ghost in the Throat
"Amy Key's extraordinary Arrangements in Blue isn't merely a commentary on Joni Mitchell's Blue, but something bolder, more personal and shape-shafting, in line with Joni's own art in that it takes no starting point for granted."
―Paul Lisicky, author of Later: My Life at the Edge of the World
"From grief to anger to full-throttled joy, Amy Key hits every note of feeling with perfect pitch... An absolutely gorgeous work."
―Heather Christle, author of The Crying Book
This information about Arrangements in Blue was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Amy Key is a poet and essayist based in London. She is the author of two collections of poetry, Luxe and Isn't Forever. Arrangements in Blue was inspired by her viral Granta essay, "A Bleed of Blue."
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