Piper’s mum wants Piper to be ‘normal’ — to put up with the tension headaches, the constant misunderstandings, and the herculean daily efforts it takes for her to pass as hearing, so she can grow up to be ‘successful’ like her scientist mother. But when disaster hits Melbourne, Piper has more important things to worry about, starting with her stomach. The personalised, ultra-processed meals from her mum’s company that used to land on their doorstep so reliably have halved in quantity, transport costs sky-rocket overnight, and businesses everywhere start to collapse.

A captivating own-voice coming-of-age novel set in near future Melbourne, that bursts with passion, resilience, optimism and joie-de-vivre. Not only is Future Girl an instructional environmental call-to-arms, providing inspiration to live more sustainably, it offers an authentic window into the experience of Deaf culture and what if feels like to be d/Deaf.

Themes: Climate Crisis, d/Deafness, Sign Language, Sustainability, Identity, Self-Expression