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Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd

Holly was now placed with a family of her own after years in a residential home for teens.  Fiona and Ray seemed to want her, but it might turn out the same as the last place where she was sent back.  Best that she leave on her own terms and head to find her mother in Ireland where she was waiting.  Holly dons a blonde wig that makes her look much older than her 15 years and calls herself Solace.  From London, she hitchhikes her way across Britain.  On the way, she meets kindness in surprising places and finds out more about herself and her past. 

There is magic in Dowd’s writing, filled with crystalline moments and complexity and no simple answers.  This road-trip novel has the essential ingredient of slow progression in self-awareness.  Holly is a complicated character, filled with bravado, anger and confusion.  She is portrayed with so many layers, that just discovering her is a joy.  Holly’s use of an alter ego to understand herself is drawn with caring and a supreme gentleness.  There are moments of stillness in the novel where insight is just around the corner, but then life intervenes and the reader must wait patiently for the next moment to come. 

Dowd uses the setting as almost its own character in the novel.  Readers who have never been to Britain will still find themselves picturing it clearly in their head, hearing the birds, visiting the dark towns. 

This is a beauty of a character sketch created by a gifted author whose career ended way too early.  Highly recommended for fans of problem novels, this book will stun with the quality of the writing.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Abby (the) Librarian and Crossover.

And we're off. We pull out of Halifax this morning for a seven day trip to Toronto. The iPod is loaded with music and podcasts, we are stocked with snacks and water and the tent is firmly wedged into the back and Benny the dog is staring out the window~fogging it up.. I'll try and post often from the road. I can still be reached by email and Twitter and we have a cell with us. Just write if you want the number. Talk to you all soon.

Ahhhhhh’m coming home.
Made up my mind that’s what I’m gonna do.
Can’t love nobody on the telephone,
So I’m coming home to you…
(name that tune, anyone?)

Yes, the trip was grand.  SCBWI Philly, and the Baltimore Book Festival, and Rosh Hashanah at Bolton Street, and most of all the wedding of a dear old friend in the gorgous low mountains of Western Maryland. 

Maryland. Home, home, home where I’m from and will always, in some part, reside.

But now I’m ready to be home, home, home, where I live.  Where we live, my feller and I, with our boys. Home.  Where the key fits.  Where the blankets smell like mine. 

So tomorrow we’ll be back on the road, the kids and I, for 12 hours of fire engine noises.  Wave when you see us pass. 

Don’t worry. We won’t be stopping!!!

Mississippi Beaumont is awaiting her 13th birthday. That's the birthday when the savvy comes for her family. Mibs can't wait to figure out her savvy. Her brother Rocket has electricity, and her brother Fish has a powerful weather savvy.

The other good thing about 13 is homeschooling. Until the kids learn to scumble their savvies, Momma thinks it's best to keep them home. No more Hebron Middle School, and no more snarky comments from Ashley Bing and Emma Flint.

Then they get word about Poppa. Mib's world comes crashing down.

While Momma and Rocket speed away to Salina, Miss Rosemary -the preacher's wife - comes on over with her kids Roberta and Will to take care of the Beaumont clan. Mibs' little sister Gypsy has gone and told Miss Rosemary that Mibs is turning 13. Miss Roberta is determined to whip up a birthday party at the church for Mibs, and she won't take no for an answer.

When Mibs awakens on her 13th birthday, a couple of strange things happen that make her think she has figured out her savvy, and she knows more than ever that she has to make it to Salina and lay her hands on her Poppa. At the church, Miss Roberta's husband is yelling at a Bible salesman, and Mibs starts to hear some other voices as well. She leaves the church and sees the Bible man's pink bus, with a Salina address on the side. She knows how she will get to Salina. What she doesn't count on are the other kids. Roberta, Will, Fish, and little brother Samson are all aboard Lester's Bible bus when it leaves the church parking lot, and makes a turn away from, instead of toward, Salina!

What follows is a road trip adventure of the best sort. Friendships, families and savvies are at the forefront, as the children try to get Lester to speed up his trip to Salina and avoid the police who are soon looking for them at the same time.

I have to say, that this little book may be my favourite of the year thus far. Countrified charm, magical realism, a dash of romance, and a family that left me envious, all make for an utterly charming read. Ingrid Law's Savvy is a sweet book that will leave readers wanting more. Fans of Horvath and Wiles take note!