We Could Be Something
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
A wonderful emotional rollercoaster of a novel about two young men, each on a journey of discovery. It's part coming-out story, part falling-in-love story, part relationship breakdown story, part extended Greek family story. It's warm and funny, a little bit heartbreaking, and completely satisfying.
WINNER: 2024 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Young Adult Literature
NOTABLE BOOK: 2024 CBCA Book of the Year, Older Readers
SHORTLISTED: 2024 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Prize for Young Adult Writing
SHORTLISTED: 2024 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
SHORTLISTED: 2024 Queensland Literary Awards, Young Adult Book Award
'The enormous heart of We Could Be Something beats with a rare, thrilling authenticity. Every funny, smart, tough word of it rings true. I loved this book.' - Patrick Ness, bestselling author of A MONSTER CALLS and the CHAOS WALKING series
Part coming-out story.
Part falling-in-love story.
Part falling-apart story.
Harvey's dads are splitting up. It's been on the cards for a while, but it's still sudden. Woken-by-his-father-to-catch-a-red-eye sudden. Now he's restarting his life in a new city, living above a cafe with the extended Greek family he barely knows.
Sotiris is a rising star. At seventeen, he's already achieved his dream of publishing a novel. When his career falters, a cute, wise-cracking bookseller named Jem upends his world.
Harvey and Sotiris's stories converge on the same street in Darlinghurst, in this beautifully heartfelt novel about how our dreams shape us, and what they cost us.
'Vivid and exquisitely written... Kostakis weaves a sparkling tale of hardship, heartbreak, identity and the universal struggle of finding your footing in the world.' - Books & Publishing
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Greek Australian teens Harvey and Sotiris—who are pansexual and gay, respectively—experience the growing pains that accompany first love in this uneven novel by Kostakis (The Sidekicks). Harvey's father Ba moves the duo from Perth to Sydney to live with distant family and work in their café following Ba's decision to separate from Harvey's dad. Heeding Dad's advice, Harvey decides to "try east-coast life on for size." He hooks up with Brad, a local whom he meets on Grindr. Harvey blocks him after their tryst, but following a failed attempt to kiss a barista at his family's café, he reconsiders Brad. Meanwhile, 17-year-old published author Sotiris—who had his first kiss in a bathroom stall—finds himself attracted to bookstore clerk Jem. Though the pair's budding relationship inspires Sotiris to come out to his mother, an unexpected bout of writer's block prompts him to break up with Jem. While extended family drama sometimes mires the central romantic entanglements, this low-key alternating character study—which began as a "memoir project," as described in an endnote—offers fleshed-out depictions of adolescent angst surrounding romance and impending adulthood. Ages 14–up.
