REPUBLIC OF DIRT

This endearing and laugh-out-loud funny novel deserves a place on the expanding contemporary bookself dedicated to comic, voice-driven writers such as Caitlin Moran, Graeme Simsion and Patricia Wood (Lottery).

Prudence Burns is an overly idealistic Brooklyn girl who has inherited a derelict plot of land named Woefield Farm. Her motley crew of farm hands consists of Earl, an elderly, reclusive banjo-player and bluegrass legend with a family secret; Seth, an agoraphobic, heavy metal blogger in early recovery; and Sara, a highly organized eleven-year-old looking for a home for her prize-winning chickens, including one particularly randy fellow soon to be christened Alec Baldwin. When Prudence is felled by a thyroid condition and refuses to see anyone but a mysterious alternative health practitioner, things go from bad to worse. Sara, the moral and emotional centre of the group, is removed from the farm after she's left alone with a dangerous neighbourhood kid. But her newly separated parents are so busy indulging their loathing for one another that they do a lousy job of looking after her. So begins the valiant attempt to get Sara back to Woefield. Efforts are complicated by a renegade mule, attempts to turn a hideously ugly child's playhouse into a high yield roadside farm stand, two bizarre holiday parties, and an electrical station's worth of crossed wires. And there's a serious mismatch between competence and pride; specifically, not enough of the former and too much of the latter. Will Prudence get well? Will Seth finally lose his virginity to the drama teacher who seduced him in the 11th grade? Will Earl rescue Sara from the danger her mother puts her in each night? And will anyone, ever, admit they might be wrong? Told in four highly distinct, unforgettably hilarious, and sometimes heartbreaking voices, Republic of Dirt is about what happens when passions collide with pride and what it takes to save each other, our small part of the planet, and ourselves. SUSAN JUBY's debut adult novel Home to Woefield was shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award and the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and optioned for television. Her memoir Nice Recovery was a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book. She has also written 6 young adult novels, including the bestselling Alice MacLeod Trilogy which was sold around the world and made into a television series Publication: Spring 2011 Canada/HarperCollins (Iris Tupholme) USA/HarperCollins (Jeanette Perez)