I'm Not Really Here

I'm Not Really Here - Paperback

$16.99
$16.99
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I'm Not Really Here
  • I'm Not Really Here
I'm Not Really Here - Paperback

I'm Not Really Here - Paperback

by Gary Lonesborough
$16.99
$16.99

Book Overview

A wonderful coming-of-age queer romance from the multi award-winning author of The Boy from the Mish. Jonah is the new kid in a country town. When he joins the local soccer team to be closer to his crush, Harley, it feels like a fresh start - but he still has to navigate new friendships, an unresolved past, and the same body image issues he's always had.

"A moving coming-of-age story with so much heart. For readers who enjoyed Heartstopper." --BOOKS & PUBLISHING

Footsteps approach behind me. I turn and see an Aboriginal boy arriving at the doorway. He's tall, taller than me. He's got curly hair. His body is fit. His chest is chiseled and bare and he's wearing only football shorts.

When 17-year-old Jonah arrives in a new town - Patience - with his dad and younger brothers, it feels like a foreign place. A new town means he needs to make new friends - which isn't always easy. Especially when he's wrestling with his body image, and his memories of his mother.

When he joins the local soccer team so he can spend more time with his new crush, Harley, he feels like he's moving closer to something good. But even though he knows what he wants, it doesn't mean he's ready.

Emotionally compelling, honest and warm, I'm Not Really Here is a beautiful novel about navigating family and friendships, and finding a way through grief towards love, from an internationally acclaimed bestselling Indigenous author.

Praise for Gary Lonesborough

"What a revelation this young writer is. He is doing something no other male First Nations novelist has attempted: the YA Black queer genre that is a glimpse into another world view, at once confronting yet heartwarming." --Australian Book Review on We Didn't Think It Through

"A lightning bolt to the soul. The Boy from the Mish announces a bold, necessary new talent." --Will Kostakis
ISBN9781761180767
Author Gary Lonesborough
PublisherA&u Children's
GenreYoung adult
FormatPaperback
PublishedMarch 2026
LanguageENG- English
Pages384
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceTeens & young adults and Adults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Young Adult Coming of Age Young Adult Fiction Young Adults

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More by Gary Lonesborough

I'm Not Really Here

I'm Not Really Here - Paperback

I'm Not Really Here - Paperback

By Gary Lonesborough

About Gary Lonesborough

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.

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