Description
Book SynopsisSelected as one of the Best Young Adult Books for 2023 - Readings Books
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
Trade Review'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
