GREEN VALENTINE

A classic romcom from a writer accomplished enough to accommodate a dash of guerrilla gardening and urban agricultural superheroes, creating a novel that is funny and romantic and political.

Astrid Katy Smythe has it all. She’s beautiful, smart and popular. She’s school captain and a straight-A student. Hiro Silvestri couldn’t be more different. He’s slouchy, rude and resentful. Despite his brains, he doesn’t see the point of school. Astrid is on a mission to save the world – her way. Hiro just wants to survive it. Ultimately both believe that the world needs to be saved from itself, but can they find enough common ground between them to right all the wrongs? Slowly they come to realise that everyone has their own passions and hopes and ideas. And that the best way to engage people is by harnessing and acknowledging and valuing all of those different ways of seeing the world. The subplot of this lighthearted romantic comedy reflects the global debate on climate change activism. The focus is small – a school kitchen garden and a clandestine community guerrilla campaign – but it highlights both the importance of community involvement and the ways in which political extremism can be hostile and alienating. Lili Wilkinson was first published at age twelve in Voiceworks magazine. She has written nine books that are published in seven countries and is completing a PhD in Creative Writing at Melbourne University. acunningplot.wordpress.com