Solace of the Road is about a girl named Holly from London. She lives in a care home but gets fostered right at the beginning of the book. She’s been in the care home almost all her life so she doesn’t really want to leave. She only leaves because her careworker is leaving and he is really worried about her and encourages her to go with a foster family.
She moves in with the foster family but doesn’t try and get on with them. She particularly hates people being sympathetic towards her and doesn’t make any effort. She doesn’t want anyone to think she is weak. She is so unhappy that one day out of the blue, she’s had enough. She decides to run away to Ireland to find her real mum. She thinks she can remember her mum from before she went into the care home and knew she was originally from Ireland.
So she becomes a new person. She names herself Solace because her mum used to bet on horses and her mum’s favourite horse was Sister Solace. Her foster mum had cancer so had a wig she wore when she lost her hair. Holly wants to be a different person so she puts on the wig, takes on the name Solace, says she’s 18, and makes a whole new identity for herself. She creates a whole backstory, including all the things she doesn’t get to do in real life and a lovely family life she’s never had.
The book is written in first person so you feel like you’re with Solace/Holly when she’s going around. I found I just couldn’t stop reading it once I got into it. I finished it in two days and actually felt really sad when it ended. I’m not going to give away the ending, but I watched Holly grow as a person. I related to her character. When bad things happen to you in your life, you do want to become someone else and escape from the reality. I really felt Holly was writing it herself… the way she writes is just perfect. When good things finally happen to Holly, I felt so happy for her!
I recommend this book so highly to everyone, especially people who don’t want to be themselves. Everyone says ‘Be yourself’ but it’s hard to do sometimes. I would recommend it for 12 year olds and up, especially Jacqueline Wilson fans who have grown up a bit.
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
