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Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale
I often sit and dream with all my might but nothing’s happened. Yet. Maybe I’m not wishing hard enough. Maybe I’m not very good at believing it. It feels like I spend all my time dreaming, waiting for the life I was supposed to have to appear.
Maisy Hayes is doing it tough. There’s never enough money, even for the simple things like having a decent breakfast. Her friends have given up inviting her out. And then there’s her sister’s serious illness, her overwhelmed mum, and her latch-key kid brother. It’s a lot. Maisy never hears from her dad—not now that he’s got a fancy life in a different city with his new wife and kids. Why would he care?
Maisy’s angry. She feels ripped off. And she’s a first-class expert at hiding it—at making excuses, at covering her shame, pretending it doesn’t exist. But pretending will only get you so far…
When Maisy’s dad insists she go and stay with him and then lavishes her with spending money and extravagant gifts, it’s everything she always wanted.
So why doesn’t it feel right?
Maisy is forced to question what she really wants—and she must find the power within herself to make it happen.
Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale is a heartfelt coming-of-age story about hardship, coping with anger and frustration, and being true to yourself.
Allayne L. Webster grew up in rural South Australia and now lives in Adelaide. Her books include Sensitive—an IBBY Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities—the CBCA notable novels Paper Planes and A Cardboard Palace, the Adelaide Festival Awards–shortlisted The Centre of My Everything, and Our Little Secret, That Thing I Did, Selfie, which was shortlisted for a NSW Premier’s Literary Award, and Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Max Fatchen Fellowship.
‘A warm, reassuring hug. Allayne Webster is Australia's answer to Judy Blume.’ Pip Harry
‘Unputdownable. Pulls no punches in shining a light on poverty and one girl dreaming of a different life.’ Rebecca Sparrow
‘Webster’s characters, major and minor, are entirely believable.’ Sunday Age on Selfie
‘Allayne Webster has created an authentic teenage narrator’s voice and convincingly depicted the range and intensity of her feelings…Very well written and engaging, Selfie is highly recommended for young adults.’ Magpies on Selfie
Maisy Hayes is doing it tough. There’s never enough money, even for the simple things like having a decent breakfast. Her friends have given up inviting her out. And then there’s her sister’s serious illness, her overwhelmed mum, and her latch-key kid brother. It’s a lot. Maisy never hears from her dad—not now that he’s got a fancy life in a different city with his new wife and kids. Why would he care?
Maisy’s angry. She feels ripped off. And she’s a first-class expert at hiding it—at making excuses, at covering her shame, pretending it doesn’t exist. But pretending will only get you so far…
When Maisy’s dad insists she go and stay with him and then lavishes her with spending money and extravagant gifts, it’s everything she always wanted.
So why doesn’t it feel right?
Maisy is forced to question what she really wants—and she must find the power within herself to make it happen.
Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale is a heartfelt coming-of-age story about hardship, coping with anger and frustration, and being true to yourself.
Allayne L. Webster grew up in rural South Australia and now lives in Adelaide. Her books include Sensitive—an IBBY Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities—the CBCA notable novels Paper Planes and A Cardboard Palace, the Adelaide Festival Awards–shortlisted The Centre of My Everything, and Our Little Secret, That Thing I Did, Selfie, which was shortlisted for a NSW Premier’s Literary Award, and Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Max Fatchen Fellowship.
‘A warm, reassuring hug. Allayne Webster is Australia's answer to Judy Blume.’ Pip Harry
‘Unputdownable. Pulls no punches in shining a light on poverty and one girl dreaming of a different life.’ Rebecca Sparrow
‘Webster’s characters, major and minor, are entirely believable.’ Sunday Age on Selfie
‘Allayne Webster has created an authentic teenage narrator’s voice and convincingly depicted the range and intensity of her feelings…Very well written and engaging, Selfie is highly recommended for young adults.’ Magpies on Selfie
336 pages, Paperback
Published September 2, 2025
4 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Allayne L. Webster
11 books36 followersAllayne is an author of Junior Fiction, Middle Grade and Young Adult literature. She’s the recipient of multiple arts grants, a Premier’s Reading Challenge Ambassador, and a former literary festival board member.
Paper Planes (Scholastic) was a 2016 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable/shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. A Cardboard Palace (MidnightSun) was a 2018 CBCA Notable and published in Sweden. Our Little Secret (Scholastic) was listed for the Golden Inkys and has recently been republished by Ligature Press. The Centre of My Everything (PenguinRandomHouse) was listed in the 2019 Davitt Awards (crime) and shortlisted in the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. Sensitive (UQP) is published in Russia and was shortlisted in the 2020 Australian Speech Pathology Awards and is a 2023 IBBY Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities.
That Thing I Did (Wakefield Press), a YA comedy, was released in March 2022 to rave reviews, and Selfie (YA, Text Publishing) will be released 4th April 2023. When not writing, Allayne plays guitar and paints.
Paper Planes (Scholastic) was a 2016 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable/shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. A Cardboard Palace (MidnightSun) was a 2018 CBCA Notable and published in Sweden. Our Little Secret (Scholastic) was listed for the Golden Inkys and has recently been republished by Ligature Press. The Centre of My Everything (PenguinRandomHouse) was listed in the 2019 Davitt Awards (crime) and shortlisted in the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. Sensitive (UQP) is published in Russia and was shortlisted in the 2020 Australian Speech Pathology Awards and is a 2023 IBBY Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities.
That Thing I Did (Wakefield Press), a YA comedy, was released in March 2022 to rave reviews, and Selfie (YA, Text Publishing) will be released 4th April 2023. When not writing, Allayne plays guitar and paints.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 13, 2025
An absolutely outstanding coming of age story, the characterisation of Maisy was outstanding, she was real from the first lines of the story.
Lots of really hot, important topics are covered in young Maisy’s small and broken family, I can’t help but feel that there is a Maisy somewhere and this book will be the starting point for her to see herself, the audio narration was perfect.
Eye opening, gut wrenching and beautiful. I didn’t expect this, but
All the stars 🌟
#Jorecommends
Huge thanks to Bolinda Audio via NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook which is available now 🎧
Lots of really hot, important topics are covered in young Maisy’s small and broken family, I can’t help but feel that there is a Maisy somewhere and this book will be the starting point for her to see herself, the audio narration was perfect.
Eye opening, gut wrenching and beautiful. I didn’t expect this, but
All the stars 🌟
#Jorecommends
Huge thanks to Bolinda Audio via NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook which is available now 🎧
September 23, 2025
4.5 ⭐️s
The content was not what I expected based on the title and cover. The blurb sounded intriguing and light but with a smidgen of heaviness. I went in expecting a simple story, but it was far more layered. This was a deeply emotional and powerful read. What an impact the book had on me.
Word of warning: The themes in this book are quite heavy.
Highly recommend this stunning contemporary young adult novel.
Audiobook via BorrowBox
Published by: Bolinda audio
Read by Mia Ryan
Duration: 6 hrs 48 min. 1.25x Speed
The content was not what I expected based on the title and cover. The blurb sounded intriguing and light but with a smidgen of heaviness. I went in expecting a simple story, but it was far more layered. This was a deeply emotional and powerful read. What an impact the book had on me.
Word of warning: The themes in this book are quite heavy.
Highly recommend this stunning contemporary young adult novel.
Audiobook via BorrowBox
Published by: Bolinda audio
Read by Mia Ryan
Duration: 6 hrs 48 min. 1.25x Speed
September 1, 2025
This is a great contemporary young adult novel that gives realistic insight into poverty. Trigger warnings for a parent engaging in sex work and child sexual abuse. Both themes are handled subtly and sensitively for the reader demographic.
November 7, 2025
all for the adelaide reps but this was a lil bit more middle grade than i expected. great story though
September 12, 2025
I listened to the audiobook of this (thanks to NetGalley) and I absolutely one thousand per cent adored it!! The narrator was brilliant, she did all the different voices so well and I could really tell the difference between each character, she was so engaging and wonderful to listen to. And I loved the story and didn’t want to stop listening - I was so sad last night when I saw I only had an hour left and realised I would finish it on my way home from work.
It’s so very Australian, there are a lot of things mentioned that might not make sense to someone not from here. I loved Maisy and her journey and I was both on her side and frustrated with her, and same with her mother - I could see the grown up, sensible point of view, but I could also see Maisy’s side and that was done really well. (The whole money for Bruce not going towards Bruce bit made me want to cry and honestly, I was on Maisy’s side for that! Same for the coffee on the laptop incident)
I absolutely loved the chapters at her dad’s as well. He and his new family were that kind of ridiculous, over the top rich that can’t really be real… can it?? A really nice juxtaposition to Maisy’s life with her mum in their mouldy rental with tinned spaghetti for dinner. Both were obviously very extreme and felt slightly unrealistic in their extremities, but that made for an even better storyline.
This is a lovely coming of age story with some lovely messages, and Maisy learns a lot of lessons by the end. I hope that now I’ve finished it the audiobook stays in my NetGalley app because I would listen to this again. Although maybe instead of that I should seek out more from this author? I’d also love a companion piece from Luca’s POV, or perhaps even Bobby’s.
It’s so very Australian, there are a lot of things mentioned that might not make sense to someone not from here. I loved Maisy and her journey and I was both on her side and frustrated with her, and same with her mother - I could see the grown up, sensible point of view, but I could also see Maisy’s side and that was done really well. (The whole money for Bruce not going towards Bruce bit made me want to cry and honestly, I was on Maisy’s side for that! Same for the coffee on the laptop incident)
I absolutely loved the chapters at her dad’s as well. He and his new family were that kind of ridiculous, over the top rich that can’t really be real… can it?? A really nice juxtaposition to Maisy’s life with her mum in their mouldy rental with tinned spaghetti for dinner. Both were obviously very extreme and felt slightly unrealistic in their extremities, but that made for an even better storyline.
This is a lovely coming of age story with some lovely messages, and Maisy learns a lot of lessons by the end. I hope that now I’ve finished it the audiobook stays in my NetGalley app because I would listen to this again. Although maybe instead of that I should seek out more from this author? I’d also love a companion piece from Luca’s POV, or perhaps even Bobby’s.
September 2, 2025
This was my first read by this author and I decided to go into this one totally blind - I know, I usually don't read blurbs, but with this read, I had absolutely nothing else to go off at all.
This was actually an excellent, but heart-wrenching story exploring some of the social issues that many families see today.
As soon as we meet Maisy and her family, it's clear to see that the family is struggling to make ends meet.
This is such a hot topic at the moment and I felt so much for all of them.
I was fully invested in the backstory of this broken family and was quite shocked by Maisy's father's behaviour both before and during the visit - but as ever, we see that even those who seem to have it all, have their own struggles to contend with.
I think the writing style was engaging throughout and I liked that the author managed to make us feel certain ways about the characters, only to change our views as the story unfolded.
The issues brought up here are well written and dealt with sensitively.
This will help so many different readers connect with this book and it's characters.
It was great to see Maisy develop from the raging teen she started off as, blossoming into a much happier young lady full of hope and drive for a better future.
This was actually an excellent, but heart-wrenching story exploring some of the social issues that many families see today.
As soon as we meet Maisy and her family, it's clear to see that the family is struggling to make ends meet.
This is such a hot topic at the moment and I felt so much for all of them.
I was fully invested in the backstory of this broken family and was quite shocked by Maisy's father's behaviour both before and during the visit - but as ever, we see that even those who seem to have it all, have their own struggles to contend with.
I think the writing style was engaging throughout and I liked that the author managed to make us feel certain ways about the characters, only to change our views as the story unfolded.
The issues brought up here are well written and dealt with sensitively.
This will help so many different readers connect with this book and it's characters.
It was great to see Maisy develop from the raging teen she started off as, blossoming into a much happier young lady full of hope and drive for a better future.
August 31, 2025
Once again Allayne L. Webster has written a book that has torn my heart out and then put it back together stronger than ever.
She writes the types of books for teens that pull no punches about the world we live in, and those are the types of books that resonate with teens so much.
Dealing with heavy issues such as living in poverty, family break ups, the wealth divide in our society, and serious medical issues... as readers we are immersed in Maisy's everyday struggles... her anger and frustration about how her life has become what it is... and cheer on her drive for a better life.
A triumph of hope, optimism, friendship.
Thank you to Text Publishing for the review copy of this book.
She writes the types of books for teens that pull no punches about the world we live in, and those are the types of books that resonate with teens so much.
Dealing with heavy issues such as living in poverty, family break ups, the wealth divide in our society, and serious medical issues... as readers we are immersed in Maisy's everyday struggles... her anger and frustration about how her life has become what it is... and cheer on her drive for a better life.
A triumph of hope, optimism, friendship.
Thank you to Text Publishing for the review copy of this book.
September 6, 2025
Maisy Hayes is angry. And given that she is coping with a sick sibling, an overwhelmed single mother, and an absent father - among other things - who can blame her?
This story deals with some of the very real issues that people face in family life - sometimes, very unfairly. These issues are portrayed realistically, but we are also shown how it is not just what happens but how you deal with that, which determines the outcomes in your life.
The reader finds Maisy's character and her journey relatable, and this is an enjoyable story - well narrated - that gets 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
This story deals with some of the very real issues that people face in family life - sometimes, very unfairly. These issues are portrayed realistically, but we are also shown how it is not just what happens but how you deal with that, which determines the outcomes in your life.
The reader finds Maisy's character and her journey relatable, and this is an enjoyable story - well narrated - that gets 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
September 12, 2025
I love reading middle grade and young adult fiction, and this has become one of my favorites. The portrayal of poverty, parenthood, and divorce and the way these affect a child is so spot on. Seeing everything through a child’s eyes truly breaks your heart. Many of the themes reflect what people deal with in daily life, which made it feel so real. It warmed my heart for the characters and made me reflect on people in general. I absolutely loved it.
November 5, 2025
This was excellent. I can understand the Judy Blume comparison!
Maisy is full of all sorts of strong emotions, frustration, anger, shame . . . and life is really putting her through the wringer. Adults are confusing, systems are unfair, her sister is sick and there is never enough money.
But I love that there really were doors. Mistakes happen and it’s not the end of everything. There is hope! And good friends mean so much. It wraps up beautifully.
Maisy is full of all sorts of strong emotions, frustration, anger, shame . . . and life is really putting her through the wringer. Adults are confusing, systems are unfair, her sister is sick and there is never enough money.
But I love that there really were doors. Mistakes happen and it’s not the end of everything. There is hope! And good friends mean so much. It wraps up beautifully.
December 4, 2025
This novel is just so poignant aka gutwrenching yet like the very best YA literature left me feeling optimistic and uplifted.
What a cracking cast of beautifully holistic characters weaving their way through heavy themes. The plot is approached with deft sensitivity, yet doesn’t flinch. Seeing poverty, illness, divorce, rejection through the lens of a teenager with their naturally funny reactions lightens the darkness of what Maisy’s family is grappling with. This was so, so good!
What a cracking cast of beautifully holistic characters weaving their way through heavy themes. The plot is approached with deft sensitivity, yet doesn’t flinch. Seeing poverty, illness, divorce, rejection through the lens of a teenager with their naturally funny reactions lightens the darkness of what Maisy’s family is grappling with. This was so, so good!
July 6, 2025
There's a lot going on here for Maisy. She's a flawed and real character.
Some genuinely funny moments which help to lighten the somber tone of a family grappling with financial hardship.
Some genuinely funny moments which help to lighten the somber tone of a family grappling with financial hardship.
November 9, 2025
3.5 stars
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October 17, 2025The following reviews have been shared by Text Publishing, publisher of Maisy Hayes Is Not For Sale.
‘A warm, reassuring hug. Allayne Webster is Australia's answer to Judy Blume.’
Pip Harry, author of The Inside Dog
‘Unputdownable. Pulls no punches in shining a light on poverty and one girl dreaming of a different life.’
Rebecca Sparrow, author of The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay
‘Authentic, witty, smart and spontaneous...a heart-felt coming-of-age story about hardship, coping with anger and frustration, and finding the power to be true to yourself.’
Buzz Words Magazine
‘A coming-of-age story that races along… Lots of humor and some frank conversations.’
South Australian English Teachers Association
‘A warm, reassuring hug. Allayne Webster is Australia's answer to Judy Blume.’
Pip Harry, author of The Inside Dog
‘Unputdownable. Pulls no punches in shining a light on poverty and one girl dreaming of a different life.’
Rebecca Sparrow, author of The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay
‘Authentic, witty, smart and spontaneous...a heart-felt coming-of-age story about hardship, coping with anger and frustration, and finding the power to be true to yourself.’
Buzz Words Magazine
‘A coming-of-age story that races along… Lots of humor and some frank conversations.’
South Australian English Teachers Association
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews