Solace of the Road

Holly Hogan runs away from her latest foster home in London. On the road, she becomes Solace, a tough girl who can realize Holly's dream of reuniting with her mother in Ireland. Sile Bermingham chronicles Holly's extended road trip in a poised but uneven fashion. As Bermingham presents English, Welsh, and Irish characters, she doesn't sufficiently differentiate the accents, especially for an American audience. She also has to cope with a story that builds slowly and a protagonist who isn't immediately likable. Further, flashbacks make this audiobok circuitous and complex, another challenge. Still contemplative listeners will find something meaningful in Bermingham's soft, steady tones and solid credibility as the voice of Holly. C.A. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

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.