Product Description

Memories of Mum are the only thing that make Holly Hogan happy. She hates her foster family with their too-nice ways and their false sympathy. And she hates her life, her stupid school and the way everyone is always on at her. Then she finds the wig, and everything changes. Wearing the long, flowing blonde locks she feels transformed. She's not Holly any more, she's Solace: the girl with the slinkster walk and the super-sharp talk. She's older, more confident - the kind of girl who can walk right out of her humdrum life, hitch to Ireland and find her mum. The kind of girl who can face the world head on. So begins a bittersweet, and sometimes hilarious journey as Solace swaggers and Holly tiptoes across England and through memory, discovering her true self, and unlocking the secrets of her past. "Solace of the Road" is a wonderful novel from one of the UK's most talented new writers for teenagers. Holly's story will leave a lasting impression on all who travel with her.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5310 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

About the Author
Siobhan Dowd lived in Oxford with her husband, Geoff, before tragically dying from cancer in August 2007, aged 47. She was both an extraordinary writer and an extraordinary person. Siobhan's first novel, A Swift Pure Cry won the Branford Boase Award and the Eilis Dillon Award and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and Booktrust Teenage Prize. Her second novel, The London Eye Mystery, won the 2007 NASEN & TES Special Educational Needs Children's Book Award.

Customer Reviews

One of the best books i've ever read
I literally could not put this book down. every night i would read several more chapters than i had time for because i just needed to know what would happen next! it is not even the sort of book i would normally read, i only read it because i had seen a good review and decided to give it a try. i had also read a couple of Siobhan Dowd's other books.

throughout the book i just wanted to hug the main character. i really felt like i was on the road trip with her, although with benefit of age and experience i could see the road ahead and knew she was headed for a crash. i think i found it almost as hard to face her painful past as she did. although it was a rough journey it was also a cathartic one (for both of us!)

Solace of the Road is sad, funny, frightening, surprising and enlightening. i would recommend it to anyone who has ever been in care, or had children, or been a teenager!

In my opinion this is a perfect novel. Siobhan Dowd was a brilliant author and her death is a sad, sad loss to us all.

Unusual Insight
What a sad loss to the world of adolescent/young-adult literature is Siobhan Dowd's death. Her writing is simple, but profound. The readers journey is as turbulent and irritating as that of the protagonist. It had me feeling impatient and irritated with this adolescent just as I would if she were my own teen. When the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is Holly's life is revealed to her firmly sealed memory, the reader reels from the impact. I will read Siobhan's books over and over and hope that some of her unusual insight into her characters will seep into me by osmosis. I grieve for my loss of a favourite author I discovered too late and who died too early. Wendy age 60

Absolutely amazing book!!
Solace of the Road is one of the best books I've read this year. I started it on a train journey and couldn't stop reading it. It's about a young girl called Holly who is adopted and unhappy in her foster family. She finds a wig and transforms into a completely new person - Solace. Holly/Solace decide to go on a journey to find her mum and also to hopefully find a bit more about who she really is. However its not as easy to run away as Holly/Solace thinks, as she has to deal with some difficult people and issues along the way! This book is about some sad issues but they are written about with great sensitivity, care and humour by Siobhan Dowd, who is an amazing author. I would fully fully recommend this book to anyone - it'll make you think and leave you with a smile on your face.