In this near-future YA dystopian political thriller, a medical breakthrough solves the problem of endless old now, if a person thinks they have had enough of living, their ‘Switch’ goes and they instantly die. 15-year-old Margaretta lives in fear of her Switch. Since her mum died at the hands of the Switch four years ago, she has been living alone with her violent father and survived only by shutting out all feelings.
Margaretta's emotional armour starts to crack when she meets Sky, a charismatic homeless boy. They run away to the Blue Cat nightclub, where Margaretta discovers the exhilaration of freedom, music, and an intensifying attraction.
Soon, they find themselves drawn into a murky world of political corruption led by the Blue Cat's shady clientele. When they discover brutal kidnappings and censorship at the heart of power, they realise countless lives are on the line. With so much at stake, can they make the world listen in time? And can their blossoming relationship survive?
Laura is a writer of fiction for young adults and children. Her novel Dirt, a dystopian eco-romance, was published by Habitat Press in 2025 and won ‘Best Book for Teenagers’ in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards. In July 2026, Habitat Press is publishing her new YA novel, Nourish, which was longlisted for the Yeovil Literary Prize.
Laura is on the editorial team of Bending The Arc, a thrutopia magazine on Substack, which publishes stories, poems and features that bend the arc of the possible towards a thriving future on Earth. 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 late 2026.
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.