Hiraeth (a novel): Representations of Care-Experience in Literature. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis. Using a care-experience lens, Rosie Canning reflects on the practice of writing a novel and the representation of care-experience in literature. Hiraeth seeks to challenge stereotypical portrayals of young people in care, foster empathy, and explore how Canning's childhood experiences have shaped her creative process as both a reader and a writer.
The novel is set between 1974 and 1976 and is narrated in third-person limited. The prologue introduces Mair, a young, unmarried Welsh woman who, in April 1958, gives birth to a baby girl at the summit of Snowdon, only to be forced to give her up for adoption. The narrative shifts to 1974, following sixteen-year-old Marianne as she leaves a children's home in Muswell Hill, where she has spent the last eight years.