Susin Nielsen

I first had the idea for this book when I was lying in a hotel room in Kelowna, BC, in February 2015. It was four a.m., and I was in between wake and sleep when the thought came, “I should write about a boy who lives in a van with his mom.” I had the wherewithal to write the line down when I got up a couple hours later, then set it aside for at least another year.

I suspect that initial idea had sprung from a couple of things:

1) Anyone who lives in Vancouver – or in any other large, internationally-renowned city – can’t help but be aware of the growing housing crisis. Homes and land are increasingly treated as commodities and investments. Housing prices have skyrocketed. Rental units in Vancouver are scarce and costly, and renters are constantly being evicted as older homes are torn down at a rapid rate, replaced by large homes that – to add insult to injury – often stand empty. More and more citizens are being pushed out of the city, or pushed to the brink of poverty and despair.  The lack of political action at every level is disheartening.

2) I briefly met a couple many years ago who told me that while he was in university, they and their school-aged daughter had lived out of a van. They talked about it like it was a great adventure. But a small (judgmental) part of me thought, “Was it really a great adventure for your kid? Like, in the dead of winter? When she’s older, will she talk about it to her kids like it was a great adventure, or will she talk about it to her therapist? Or both?”

There were elements of this story that I only realized I’d been hungry to delve into once I’d begun writing. First is that gradual awakening kids have, that their parents are far from perfect. Second, I wanted to write a deeply flawed parent. I, too, grew up with a single parent mom. I, too, was an only child. But unlike Astrid, my mom was a stable, steadying force. We were far from wealthy, but we never worried about eviction, or about where our next meal would come from. Astrid is a strong woman who loves her son deeply. But she has been damaged by her past, and doesn’t always make the best choices.  As one of my young readers said, “She’s a let-down mom.” Third, I don’t know why, but I’ve always wanted to have a game show in one of my books! This was finally my chance to do it.