Publisher's synopsis
Future Girl explores what it means to come of age as a Deaf teenager, against the backdrop of a near-future Melbourne on the brink of environmental catastrophe.
Piper’s mum wants her to be ‘normal’, to pass as hearing and get a good job. But when peak oil hits and Melbourne lurches towards environmental catastrophe, Piper has more important things to worry about, such as how to get food.
When she meets Marley, a CODA (child of Deaf adult), a door opens into a new world – where Deafness is something to celebrate rather than hide, and where resilience is created through growing your own food rather than it being delivered on a truck.
As she dives into learning Auslan, sign language that is exquisitely beautiful and expressive, Piper finds herself falling hard for Marley. But Marley, who has grown up in the Deaf community yet is not Deaf, is struggling to find his place in the hearing world. How can they be together?
Future Girl is the art journal of sixteen-year-old Piper, a visual extravaganza of text, paint, collage and drawings, woven into a deeply engaging coming-of-age story set in near-future Melbourne.
Awards
- Winner Read for Empathy Book Collection secondary collection title, Empathylab 2022 UK
- Winner Best Book for Teens, Schneider Family Book Award, American Library Association (ALA) – WORDS IN MY HANDS (US title) 2022 US
- Winner White Ravens title, International Youth Library Foundation 2021 DE
- Winner Readings Young Adult Book Prize 2021 AU
- Longlisted Book of the Year, Older Readers, CBCA Awards 2021 AU
- Shortlisted Book of the Year for Older Children, ABIA Awards 2021 AU
- Shortlisted Young Adult category, Indie Book Awards 2021 AU
- Shortlisted Best Young Adult Novel, Aurealis Awards 2020 AU
