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This Boy I Hardly Know
Brief Description
Sixteen-year-old Dusty is smart, talented and fiercely protective of her younger sister Poppy. They’ve been moved from foster carer to foster carer, until one day the unthinkable happens: Dusty and Poppy are separated. Dusty is sent to a children’s home in a different town; Poppy to...
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Description
Sixteen-year-old Dusty is smart, talented and fiercely protective of her younger sister Poppy. They’ve been moved from foster carer to foster carer, until one day the unthinkable happens: Dusty and Poppy are separated.
Dusty is sent to a children’s home in a different town; Poppy to a family hundreds of miles away. No one can say when they will see each other again.
Devastated but determined, Dusty has to find a way to reach Poppy. Everything seems stacked against her until she meets beautiful, fearless Cooper at the home, and together they decide to run…
What follows is a heart-breaking love story, road movie, tense police hunt, and hope-filled celebration of sibling bonds and kindness, which shines a light on a failing care sector where a quarter of children are living apart from their siblings.
'Packed with colour and burning with life’s force… Lisa Heathfield’s brilliant protagonist is full of urgent love, complex betrayals, and ferocious secrets' Luke Palmer
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781839137839
Publisher: Andersen Press Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 07 May 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Andersen Press Ltd
Audience: Children
DIMENSIONS
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 300g
Pages: 336
About the Author
Lisa Heathfield’s YA novels have all won or been shortlisted for awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize (twice), the YA Book Prize, the Virginia Reader’s Choice Award, the North East Teen Award, the Fabulous Book Award, the Leeds Book Award, the Concorde Book Award, the Southern Schools Book Award and the GDST Award.
Having worked in a school for students with mental health challenges and also a residential children’s home, Lisa now teaches teens who are unable to be in school for a variety of reasons. She lives in Brighton, UK, with her husband and three sons.
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