Author Interview with Megan E. Freeman

With two starred reviews, The Secret to Belonging is already getting the attention it deserves. And, when given the opportunity to interview Megan E. Freeman, I jumped at the chance. I’ve touted my praise for Alone across a number of blog posts, was excited to see a companion novel, and can’t wait for the next one to be released in early 2027. But, this was new – a YA, coming of age, novel in verse debut set in the early 1980s against the backdrop of a sibling struggling with addiction.

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The Secret to Belonging

The protagonist is given the opportunity to become a exchange student during her senior year of high school and realizing that it might be her only opportunity to escape the invisibility of her life, she travels across the globe, to a small community in Norway, above the Arctic Circle for a chance to try new things, learn a new language, and surround herself with people who love and respect her.

Written in verse, this novel offers readers a chance to sit with uncomfortable feelings, feel the cold of a Norwegian snowfall, and grow along with the protagonist as she slowly opens her heart to the experiences of living abroad. You can tell that Megan E. Freeman is intentional with every word choice on the page, and while reading a novel in verse can be a brief occasion, the story will stay with you long after you read the last words.

I would suggest this title to readers looking for a story that doesn’t shy away from feelings or difficult situations, a character that is searching for something more, and a setting that will make you want to book a plane ticket as soon as possible! Learn more about The Secret to Belonging and Megan E. Freeman in my interview below.

Author Interview

LITERACIOUS: After writing two survival stories—with another one on the way!—what made you decide to try something different with your debut YA novel, The Secret to Belonging?

FREEMAN: I actually started working on The Secret to Belonging right after I wrote ALONE, but then I set it aside to focus on other projects. And I wrote several manuscripts that had nothing to do with survival themes before AWAY came out, but they are being published in a different order than the order in which they were written. So The Secret to Belonging may seem like a departure—and as far as the market is concerned it is—but I’ve actually been writing across themes and categories all along.

LITERACIOUS: I’m a huge fan of novels in verse. Every word has to work a little harder than it does in prose. What’s your process for choosing the right words to tell the story while still leaving room for readers to fill in the spaces?

FREEMAN: It’s very similar to the process I go through when writing a solitary poem, just on a much larger scale. It’s mostly about distillation: reducing the verse down to its essence, while still leaving enough for the reader to connect the dots of the narrative. The reader will bring details from their own imagination to fill in the white space on the pages, but only if I’ve given them enough to work with. It’s an iterative process with a lot of experimentation. I play with word choice, devices of sound, figurative language, imagery, repetition, and refrain. I read it out loud. I have young beta readers give me feedback. Then I go back to the beginning and play some more. Not a single word, punctuation mark, space, or line break is unexamined or untested.

LITERACIOUS: What drew you to Norway as the setting for the story? I’ve never been there, but your descriptions were so vivid that I felt like I could almost feel the cold, hear the swish of the skis, and watch the Northern Lights overhead.

FREEMAN: I was actually a high school exchange student in Norway, and I lived with a family in a small town above the Arctic Circle for thirteen months. I fell in love with the Norwegian culture and the language and the landscape and the weather. There’s no question that my exchange experience fundamentally altered the way I think about the world and how I engage with people, and it was really fun to go back and mine all those memories to write this book. Norway will always have a special place in my heart, and I highly recommend adding it to your bucket list.

LITERACIOUS: The Secret to Belonging is told in the uncommon second-person point of view. Was that always your plan, or did you discover along the way that it was the best way to tell this story?

FREEMAN: I always like to push the boundaries of my creative comfort zones, and I had already used first- and third-person voice in other projects. A few adult books had impressed me with their use of second-person voice, specifically In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado and The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida. In early drafts of The Secret to Belonging, I experimented with both first- and second-person, but ultimately I liked second-person better. It felt both intimate and distancing, and it forced the reader into a kind of empathetic alliance with the main character.

LITERACIOUS: One of the things that really stood out to me was that the main character is never given a name, while everyone else is. What inspired that choice, and what did you hope readers would take away from it?

FREEMAN: Not naming her was connected in a way to the choice to write in second-person voice. If I’m talking to you, you already know your name and you don’t need me to tell you what it is. Second-person voice makes the reader the proxy for the main character, and therefore the reader knows their name. That said, there is one little scene in the book where the main character gives another character a clue as to what her name might be. Using that clue, a motivated reader could figure out what name I gave her in my private imagination.

LITERACIOUS: Finally, I have to ask: after spending so much time with this story, what do you think the secret to belonging really is?

FREEMAN: I think everyone grapples with some form of this question in the process of becoming a fully actualized and emotionally intelligent individual. For me, it’s about living in integrity with myself and the world around me. It’s about choosing family and friends who bring inherent value to the relationships and who model traits and behaviors that align with who I aspire to be. It’s about setting and maintaining healthy boundaries in unhealthy situations. It’s about banishing shame and fear and perceptions of scarcity, and it’s about telling myself the truth and embracing an abundance mindset. When I can recognize and leverage my agency to create the life I want, it’s easy to feel that I belong in that life.

Order Now!

I want to thank Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing for this opportunity to read The Secret To Belonging as an ARC, as well as getting the chance to interview Megan E. Freeman. The Secret to Belonging is available for pre-order now with a publication date of September 15, 2026. Order now so you have it in hand as soon as possible!