We are delighted to welcome author and poet Sarah Holding to the blog to talk about her gripping and gritty new young adult novel Road to True North.  The novel explores a formative rites of passage road trip that Ollie and his father take around Iceland.  

Olly finds himself at something of a crossroads, please can you introduce us to him?

Olly is not in a happy place at the start of the novel. He’s just failed his A levels, was arrested at a music festival, and the person he’s fallen in love with isn’t replying to his texts. Right after landing in Iceland with his father at the start of their roadtrip he also realises he’s forgotten to bring his anti-depressants. You could say his self-esteem has hit rock bottom, and he has no idea where his life back in London is going.

The geography and culture of Iceland feel really well depicted, what kind of research was involved with this?

I’ve been to Iceland a few times now, the first time was back in 2003 when I fell in love with its weird landscapes and wonderful people, ten years ago we spent a family holiday touring round in an SUV, and more recently I’ve been back there with my husband to visit friends, who also happen to be geologists and know lots about Icelandic culture. So I’ve got to know quite a bit about the country, although getting lost in the Highlands is not something I’ve experienced first-hand!

You describe Iceland as 'Europe's last true wilderness,' what was the appeal of the setting for the book?

Absolutely! I was actually writing the book while on a winter residency in a remote part of Finland, so it felt quite natural to be depicting somewhere cold and desolate, and I knew from the outset that I needed to set the story somewhere the terrain was as challenging as the emotional turmoil the characters are going through.

There's a real emotional honesty in the relationship Olly shares with his father, Sean.  It feels a counter to toxic masculinity, how conscious of this were you when writing this?

I have two sons who are now in their twenties, and watching them and their friends mature into adults has made me realise that Gen Z have much greater self-awareness and emotional intelligence and a totally different take on masculinity. Sean is an old school male chauvinist, a bit sexist, prone to mansplaining and minimising. But he slowly realises he has things to learn from his son.

You've captured a real sense of rites of passage with the journey Olly makes, both in terms of the physical journey around Iceland, but also in terms of his own personal growth.  Did any other books influence this?

I probably took some inspiration from Louis Sachar’s wonderful book Holes, where the main character finds himself in a similarly challenging landscape, wondering where his life took a wrong turn. I’ve also seen how my own children found solace in music and art during lockdown, so there’s a message about the restorative effect of creativity on your sense of self-worth that runs through the story.

Music is very important to Olly, what do you feel makes music such a powerful medium as we grow up and did you have any sense of a playlist for Olly or the book? 

Funnily enough, I not only wrote and recorded a version of the original song True North that Olly sings at the Open Mic about halfway through the book, but I have also just put together a Spotify playlist of music I imagined Olly was listening to during their long car journeys around Iceland. The song was used as the soundtrack for the trailer, and the playlist is here.

What is the most exciting or inspiring thing about writing for young adult audiences?

I think what I enjoy most is capturing an authentic-feeling voice and point of view, that enables the reader to witness private, intimate moments when a young person is navigating their way from innocence to experience. That’s how it was with writing Olly, but also with Bo, the narrator of ‘blackloop’ and equally Kam, Mel and Leon, the three genetically-engineered characters in ‘Chameleon’. I guess I’m really drawn to depicting characters who are coming of age under difficult circumstances, whether they’re enduring climate change, an electro-magnetic event, or a seismic family situation.  

Can you tell us anything about what might be next for you?

I’ve got a few other projects on the go right now, and I’m looking forward to being back in Japan this autumn to sit at my desk in Himeji and write. My next novel, which is almost finished, is set in a coastal village in Japan. It’s about two 13-year-old misfits who strike up a summer friendship and enable each other to find acceptance in their local community. It’s my take on Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book meets Studio Ghibli. I’m hoping to get it published in a dual-language edition, as I would love it to reach young Japanese readers as well as those whose first language is English.

A big thank you to Sarah Holding for the interview and to Sinead Gosai for the opportunity.

Road to True North is available to buy now, click here.