We Didn't Think It Through

WINNER: 2024 MARION ACT Book of the Year, Books for Older Readers
WINNER: 2024 Readings Young Adult Prize
SHORTLISTED: 2024 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
SHORTLISTED: 2024 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Indigenous Writers' Prize
NOTABLE BOOK: 2024 CBCA Book of the Year, Older Readers
SHORTLISTED: 2024 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Young Adult Literature

The thought comes to me: This is how I die. Dally is going to lose control and crash us into a pole or a house and we will be killed on impact.

The justice system characterises Jamie Langton as a 'danger to society', but he's just an Aboriginal kid, trying to find his way through adolescence.

Jamie lives in Dalton's Bay with Aunty Dawn and Uncle Bobby. He spends his downtime hanging out with his mates, Dally and Lenny. Mark Cassidy and his white mates - the Footy Heads - take every opportunity they can to bully Jamie and his friends. On Lenny's last night in town before moving to Sydney, after another episode of racist harassment, Jamie, Dally and Lenny decide to retaliate by vandalising Mark Cassidy's car. And when they discover the keys are in the ignition... Dally changes the plan. Soon they are all in Mark Cassidy's stolen car cruising through town, aiming to take it for a quick spin, then dump it.

But it's a bad plan. And as a consequence, Jamie ends up in the youth justice system where he must find a way to mend his relationships with himself, his friends, his family and his future.

'A lightning bolt to the soul. The Boy from the Mish announces a bold, necessary new talent.' WILL KOSTAKIS

'This compelling coming of age story is told with a voice so authentic, it pulls the reader into another life. Main character, Jamie, makes all the mistakes of a teenager struggling with the pain of the past and the turbulence of the present, but his humour and honesty creates empathy for someone who would otherwise be misunderstood. Gary Lonesborough's use of language, including sections of verse, is so well done it described the indescribable. The pace kept the pages turning and the ending brought relief and hope for the future'. - Judges' comments, ACT Literary Awards

'What a revelation this young writer is. He is doing something no other male First Nations novelist has attempted: the YA Blak queer genre that is a glimpse into another world view, at once confronting yet heartwarming.' - Australian Book Review

'It takes only a handful of pages to get drawn into Jamie's world as he confronts complicated feelings around buried resentment, racism and the realisation that life is about second chances. Lonesborough has created a cast of fully rounded characters exploring extremely heavy themes with hope and humour.' - Francis Atkinson, Sydney Morning Herald
'We Didn't Think It Through is a beautifully raw and eye-opening coming of age novel about a boy trying to navigate a world that isn't fair or kind, but that is ours.' - Reading Time

Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin man, who grew up on the Far South Coast of NSW as part of a large and proud Aboriginal family. Gary was always writing as a child, and continued his creative journey when he moved to Sydney to study at film school. Gary has experience working in youth work, Aboriginal health, child protection, the disability sector (including experience working in the youth justice system) and the film industry, including working on the feature film adaptation of Jasper Jones.His debut YA novel, THE BOY FROM THE MISH, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2021.It was published in the US in 2022 under the title Ready When You Are.

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