Hold on to Love

Bridie McShane #2

by Mollie Hunter

Fifteen-year-old Bridie McShane, in a headlong flight towards independence, discovers both love and the fulfillment of her dream of becoming the writer she always knew she was destined to be.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Young Adult

251 pages, Unbound

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Maureen Mollie Hunter McIlwraith was a Scottish author. She wrote under the name Mollie Hunter. Mollie Hunter is one of the most popular and influential twentieth-century Scottish writers of fiction for children and young adults. Her work, which includes fantasy, historical fiction, and realism, has been widely praised and has won many awards and honors, such as the Carnegie Medal, the Phoenix Award, a Boston Globe - Horn Book Honor Award, and the Scottish Arts Council Award.

There has also been great interest in Hunter's views about writing fiction, and she has published two collections of essays and speeches on the subject. Hunter's portrait hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and her papers and manuscripts are preserved in the Scottish National Library.

Her books have been as popular in the United States as in the United Kingdom, and most are still in print. Critic Peter Hollindale has gone so far as to assert that Hunter "is by general consent Scotland's most distinguished modern children's writer."

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must have been about 12 when I first read this book, without realising it was a sequel (to "Sound of Chariots"), and I've lost count of how many times I've read it since then. I remember copying out the poetry and sticking it one my bedroom wall, and the use of the apostrophe is forever linked with the mantra "Peter McKinlay's dark, Peter McKinlay's handsome" in my mind. This is particularly unfortunate as I know someone called Peter McKinlay.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet book. Lovely how everything works out. Good characters, I really felt like I got to know them. So much was focused on Bridie's passion for writing, but we never really learned if she was any good. I had hoped to learn more about that. I was disappointed that she never found a mentor or someone who would support her efforts or direct. her. It did awaken in me the idea that stories are all around us.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Nice quick, fluffy read. Though I probably would have hit the romantic lead for always insisted he needed to protect me had I been Bridie. I also would've told him to calm down when he got jealous. Dude got a little scary...

[Lindsay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember this as being similar to A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. I also loved this coming-of-age story about a young woman struggling to find herself as a writer. I have to read this again someday...