Dirt by Laura Baggaley

Thank you, @zooloosBT, for letting me be part of this tour and reviewing this book. Dirt is for young adults and is a dystopian genre. Dirt is set in Newbeck, and food is very scarce there. One day Sam meets a girl called Avril who is very different from Sam, and their lives are very different from each other. I like how there are two narratives, and you get to know Sam and Avril very well and about their lives from their perspective. The topics that are raised in this book are food, the environment, and friendships. Very fascinating and important topics that the author has researched very well. I like the romance between Avril and Sam, and I do feel for them when Avril parents try to stop Avril from seeing Sam. I feel young adults will enjoy this story immensely. It was good to see the characters develop through the book. A thought-provoking and heartwarming read that will entertain you until the end. 4 stars. Who is Laura Baggaley? Laura Baggaley is a writer of fiction for young adults and children. Her latest book is a dystopian eco-romance, Dirt, published by Habitat Press. Her novel, Enough, was one of three finalists in the Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition and longlisted for the Times / Chicken House Children’s fiction Competition and will be published by Neem Tree Press in 2026. She’s currently polishing a third novel which was longlisted for the Yeovil Literary Prize. She’s on the editorial team of Bending The Arc, a thrutopia Substack magazine, which publishes stories, poems and features that bend the arc of the possible towards a thriving future on Earth. Laura is a firm believer in ‘imagination activism’ and loves books that ask big questions, usually starting ‘What if . . . ?’ She enjoys the challenge of creating alternative possible futures in her writing, and hopes that by imagining different worlds we’ll be able to build a better one. You can find her at laurabaggaley.co.uk ─────────☆────•────☆────•────☆────•────☆────•───────── Where can you find them? Instagram https://www.instagram.com/laurabaggaleywriter/ Website https://www.laurabaggaley.co.uk/ ─────────☆────•────☆────•────☆────•────☆────•───────── Book Links Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/233184530-dirt Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/dirt-zbt Blurb Food is scarce in Newbeck. Rations are meagre. Everyone grows what they can on government-allotted Squares of land, using seeds and soil bought from mysterious mega- business, the Green Cultivation Corporation. One hot day, a strange girl rides into town wearing a sunhat as big as a bicycle wheel. She arrives alone, on a desert track from nowhere, full of questions no-one’s ever asked before. Local boy Sam is fascinated by her. Why won’t she talk about her family and where she lives? Why is she so curious about his way of life? And why can’t he get her out of his head . . . A dystopian eco-romance for young adults, Dirt shows that even on stony ground, hope can grow.