Bonnyrigg author Catriona Child's new novel Fade Into You is a "love letter to growing up in Scotland in the 1990s and 2000s'

Author’s fourth novel launched last week in Edinburgh

A Bonnyrigg-based author released her fourth novel last week, written during lockdown, which takes readers on a nostalgic journey through the 1990s and 2000s as a group of friends take the leap from teenage life to adulthood.

Catriona Child, 43, used lockdown to channel her formative teenage years in the 1990s and memories from the noughties to write Fade Into You, which was released last week by Luath Press and officially launched at Blackwell’s bookshop at South Bridge in Edinburgh.

At its heart are the characters of Alex, Gavin and Banny, their childhood friendships and first loves, the intensity of being a teenager, and the things we learn or leave behind as we move from childhood into adulthood. It will take you from Edinburgh to rural Argyll to Seattle to Aberdeen and is set against a backdrop of T in the Park, homemade tablet and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It's full of pop culture references and mixtapes that transport the reader back in time.

Bonnyrigg-based author Catriona Child has a new novel, Fade Into You, out now. Photo by Callum Moffat.

Catriona said: “It was a really good launch, with a good wee turnout.

"The book was inspired by the lockdown and getting nostalgic for the time when I grew up as a teenager in the 90s. It’s a love letter to the 90s really. I started thinking about my transition from being a teenager to becoming a young adult, how things change as we grow up, friends, hobbies, interests.

"Alex is not me at all, although a lot of the things that happen to her I did growing up in Kinross, on the doorstep of T in the Park. The B&B in the book is based on my gran and grandad’s B&B which we used to visit. So I used that grain of truth that I could run with. It was like stories my granny would tell me, that were based on truth but she would embellish to make them more entertaining.

"During the first lockdown I felt a bit paralysed creatively. I couldn’t read a book, never mind write one! But during the second lockdown I used the time to write this. I’m married with two children, so normally I’m quite busy with family life, but with all the Covid restrictions I didn’t have to take the kids to say judo or the brownies, so I had the time to take a trip back in time and write this. I started watching Dawson’s Creek and got back into the 90s.

The cover of Catriona Child's new novel, Fade Into You.

"A lot of people have said my writing would be good on screen. When I write I picture it as a scene in a movie. And the soundtrack is always very important to me. The title of the book, a Mazzy Star song, is quite important to the feel of the book. I’m quite into my music and even as a teenager that’s how I used to manage my emotions, through music.”

Catriona’s fiction writing CV includes Us vs the World, Swim Until You Can't See Land and her first novel Trackman. She added: "I think all my books are quite different, so there is probably something for everyone. I’m getting a following, people who like my style of writing. I have never written anything that I feel could be a series. I tend to write a story then leave the characters behind and move onto another story with new characters.

"The reaction to this book has been good so far. Everybody has been positive which is good, a couple of really nice reviews as well so I hope that continues. I write what I want to read. Often based on my own experiences. I guess my work could be described as contemporary Scottish fiction. Mostly on young adults. And I tend to write in the local accent with lots of colloquialisms.”

Originally from Dundee, Catriona spent time growing up in Perthshire and Edinburgh, before moving out of the Capital to Bonnyrigg with her family. Catriona’s sister is Olympic medalist and European 400 metres hurdles champion Eilidh Doyle.

Fade Into You is available online now, priced £10.99.