Book Review: Saturn's Favorite Music

Clara Jane is an alternative music-loving graduate fresh out of broadcast school in Detroit. Determined that she will be one of the lucky ones to make it in a competitive field, she lands her first job at a small market radio station in northern Michigan in the summer of 1992. The station's hyper-local programming (featuring lost farm animal reports and radio obits) and its mix of light hits and great oldies is a far cry from the rock star glamour she craves, but it is all part of "paying her dues." Clara must adjust to small town life and to being the only woman in an all male airstaff.

Clara's biggest supporter is the recently-divorced morning man Seth Jones. Clara and Seth share a sense of humor and a mutual love of different genres of music. They develop a deep friendship that might become something more. But just as Clara starts to become comfortable operating the board, the station is sold and staff members start to be replaced by automation. Will Clara find the radio fame she craves before the station goes completely robotic?

Saturn's Favorite Music by Laura Lee was published on April 18, 2025. Elsewhere Press provided a galley for review.

I was initially attracted to this novel because it revolves around music/radio and takes place in Michigan. And though this is my first book of hers, I always want to support the local authors from my community.

I immediately connected with Clara (my first car was a Chevy Chevette). Her starting out on her first post-college job in '92 reminded me of a similar time in my life less than a half-decade prior. With this being a period piece, it is refreshing to have that reminder of a time when the Internet was still fairly limited and smart phones were still just a dream. This all gave me a sense of nostalgia and quaintness that I appreciated.

From the story, I got a good understanding of the ins and outs of a small-town disc jockey in the early 90's. Lee perfectly created that world in a way for laymen to quickly grasp (thanks to her own experience in that world). All of the song references spoke to my enjoyment of popular music. Things get a little episodic in the middle, yet everything layers and moves the overall narrative of Clara forward to an appreciated ending.