Ready When You Are

by Gary Lonesborough

Overview

A remarkable YA love story between two Aboriginal boys — one who doesn’t want to accept he’s gay, and the boy who comes to live in his house who makes him realize who he is.

It's a hot summer, and life's going all right for Jackson and his family on the Mish. It's almost Christmas, school's out, and he's hanging with his mates, teasing the visiting tourists, avoiding the racist boys in town. Just like every year, Jackson's Aunty and annoying little cousins visit from the city — but this time a mysterious boy with a troubled past comes with them. As their friendship evolves, Jackson must confront the changing shapes of his relationships with his friends, family and community. And he must face his darkest secret — a secret he thought he'd locked away for good.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338749540
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2022
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

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. Growing up a massive Kylie Minogue and North Queensland Cowboys fan, 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 Aboriginal health, the disability sector (including experience working in the Youth Justice System), and the film industry. He was Bega Valley Shire Council Young Citizen of the Year, won the Patrick White Young Indigenous Writers’ Award, and has received a Copyright Agency First Nations Fellowship. Ready When You Are (published in Australia as The Boy from the Mish) is Gary’s debut YA novel.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the Australian edition of the novel:

"It is, honestly, a book I've been searching for over my whole career as an editor, as well as all my years as a queer reader. I'm not ashamed to say that it made me cry (repeatedly) and awed me with the power of its storytelling." — David Levithan

"The Boy from the Mish is an extraordinary debut novel, and I loved this tender, beautiful story with all my heart. Jackson and Tomas stole my heart, and I'll be thinking about them for a long time." — Nina Kenwood

"A lightning bolt to the soul. The Boy from the Mish announces a bold, necessary new talent." — Will Kostakis

"How I wish I had this big-hearted book when I was a teenager. It would've changed my life. Let it change yours." — Benjamin Law

"A deftly woven tale that is both a raw, unflinching look at the experience of growing up gay and Aboriginal, and a sweet, truly endearing love story you just can't turn away from. This is Own Voices storytelling at its best." — Holden Sheppard

"Honest. Funny. Beautiful. This book is all the things." — Gabbie Stroud

From the Publisher

★ 2021-11-30
Two First Australian teens fall for each other in secret.

Summer on the Mish means plenty of time for 17-year-old Jackson to spend with his two best mates and girlfriend, Tesha. But try as he might, Jackson can’t perform during sex. He blames the grog. But when cute, mysterious Tomas arrives, released from juvie and visiting Jackson’s family for Christmas, it’s clear there might be more to the story. Forced to share a room with Tomas, Jackson connects with him over art. When the boys realize their mutual attraction, life gets sizzlingly complicated. At first, they keep things quiet; no one on the Mish can know. But the harder they fall, the harder it is to keep their relationship a secret—and the less Jackson and Tomas want to. Published in Australia in 2021 as The Boy From the Mish, Yuin author Lonesborough’s YA debut is a sweet will-they, won’t-they romance with welcome Indigenous Australian representation. What starts as a slow-burn love story riddled with internalized homophobia blossoms into a beautiful relationship alongside discussions of racism and classism. The first-person present-tense narration offers a sense of immediacy that makes every moment count, from raucous parties to romantic bushwalks. The sights, sounds, and inhabitants of the fictional rural Koori community, which is informed by Lonesborough’s own life, are richly rendered.

An affirming, textured coming-out story. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews