Solace of the Road

September 28, 2009
Dowd’s final novel (the author died of cancer in 2007) is a compelling psychological portrait of a girl’s journey from denial to facing the facts that will let her move beyond her troubled past. Holly Hogan, 14, has been a ward of the state for most of her life. She is finally placed with foster parents Fiona and Ray, but is suspicious, unable to believe anyone would be interested in a “delinquent care-babe with a cracked up past.” Then she finds a blonde wig Fiona wore while recovering from chemotherapy, which transforms Holly’s looks—and confidence. At first opportunity, she dons the wig, renames herself “Solace” and hits the road, intent on reaching Ireland, where she thinks her mother fled nine years earlier. Considerable tension is derived from the precarious situations Holly puts herself in—hitching rides, leaving a nightclub with a stranger, hiding in the back of a wagon on a ferry—but the real tightrope she’s walking is along the slippery thread of memory. Readers will root for her to find her balance and arrive safely at the right destination. Ages 14–up.

Starred review from October 1, 2009
Gr 9 Up-Holly Hogan, 14, lives in a facility for troubled youth in England. Her dream is to return to Ireland, her birthplace, and reunite with her mother. When she is placed in a foster home, the dream resurfaces as she finds and tries on the woman's blond wig. Suddenly, Holly is gone and in walks Solace, a devil-may-care older version of herself, with "slim-slam hips" and the world at her feet. The name Solace comes from a winning horse Holly supposedly chose when her mother bet on horses. As Solace, the teen sets off on the road to ruin as she begins a runaway journey. All the while, her faded memories turn all too gritty as she remembers the true behavior and treatment she received at her mother's hands. She meets a variety of strangers, some kinder than others. And she does indeed make it to Ireland almost at the cost of her life. Through her alter-ego, Holly rediscovers herself and embraces the promise of a better life than the one she has been dealt. Written with dialect of both the English and Irish, the story has some words or phrases that may be unfamiliar to some readers. However, there is nothing to detract from the emotional power of this beautiful novel. Readers will keenly feel Holly's hurt, rage, confusion, sorrow, humor, and hunger for a sense of home, a sense of peace."Tracy Weiskind, Chicago Public Library"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2009
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* rom the moment she enters her new London foster home with childless Ray and Fiona, 14-year-old Holly feels like an oddball . . . a crackhead in a yoga class. She dreams of running away to Ireland to search for her birth mother, but its not until she finds Fionas blonde wig, discarded after a bout with cancer, that Holly finds the courage to hit the road. Wig on, she becomes Solace, the unstoppable, the smooth-walking, sharp-talking glamour girl, and in this wrenching novel, readers follow Holly from London to the Irish Sea. A cast of memorable characters, from a vegan truck driver to a sexy teen with a motorcycle, helps move Holly along, but its the solo legs of the journey that are most memorable, particularly as they build to a boiling point, in which Holly confronts the buried truth about her past. Narrated in almost real-time detail, the story requires patient readers, but most will find themselves immediately caught up in Hollys unwavering, bitterly funny, and sometimes caustic voice, which captures both outer and inner worldsthe British countryside and her pain, fatigue, and yearningwith a poetic, almost hallucinatory quality. With rare, raw honesty, Dowd writes about the legacy of abandonment, memorys comforting tricks, and the painful, believable ways that love heals.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)