When we meet 16-year-old Piper, she's a functioning oral: a d/Deaf person who lip reads and speaks. She's an enthusiastic consumer of Recon, a food substitute produced by her mother's company. The McBrides live in a dystopic Melbourne, Australia where a greedy corporation controls the government and thereby the population by distributing this fake food that becomes less available as they story progresses. Recon has ended cancer and other ills. "Wild" food is viewed with suspicion.

Piper doesn't think much of her disability or the food situation until she meets Marley, a bike shop guy and later his d/Deaf mom, Robbie, who grows vegetables and animals to sustain them. As Piper begins to learn sign language, the massive headaches caused by her hearing aids wane. Her interest in growing food waxes at the same time, aided by the constant hunger gnawing at her now that her Recon rations have been cut in half.

Marley, being a bike shop guy, is obviously a hottie, but he's not totally the perfect YA boyfriend. He has his asshole moments, especially while he's wrestling with his identity as a CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult) and what that means when being in a relationship with a Deaf girl. The most perfect person in the book is Robbie, who is compassionate and strong and helps Piper to understand that she doesn't have to conform to hearing culture, even though Piper's mom is set on Piper's being as "normal" as possible.

Meanwhile government and mercenary oppressions seek to destroy public gardens and protest. Piper is an artist; the book is told in the form of her diary/sketchbook. When others see some of her drawings, they encourage her to use them as stencils and protest signs. That goes as well as you might expect and leads to a reckoning.

A favorite quote from the book is graffiti on the bike shop wall.

Imagine: If the GDP was replaced with a contentment index.

Highly recommended, especially for permaculture nerds, d/Deaf people, and people who want to overthrow corporate governments.

Caveat--I read it as an ebook, which I advise against. Because the text is on decorated diary pages, you can't adjust the size, and it's impossible to read on a phone. It's okay on a tablet, but still not great. Maybe the published version will be easier to navigate?

Thanks, NetGalley for the free ARC.