Jackson Sweeney is stewing in his tiny hometown, feeling stuck. He spends his days working at Al's Takeaway and his nights at the local dive pub, scouting for a guy he hasn't pashed yet. His childhood friend Marnie returns to Ginsborough on her family's annual visit, but she's reeling from a break-up and is determined to lie low. After all, nothing happens in this part of the world. But then one night an odd-looking stranger shows up: he has long black hair, a leather trench coat and the improbable name of Bootstrap. What's more, he says he's here to see the night Jackson Sweeney becomes a hero. Soon, Sweeney and Marnie find themselves swept up in an adventure they never could have dreamt of-with a fugitive on the run from the future. Both a thrilling race against time and a witty contemporary love story, Bootstrap is the genre-bending new novel from the brilliant Georgina Young. Georgina Young is a writer and designer from Melbourne. Her first novel, Loner, which was published in 2020, won the Text Prize, was commended by the CBCA as a notable book for older readers, and was shortlisted for a Prime Minister's Literary Award. 'Cleverly written, in short sharp chapters, it captures the false bravado, the awkwardness, the misunderstandings, the inability to say how you feel: it is a snapshot of what life is like for so many late teens and 20-somethings, who are beset with anxiety, aimlessness, unable to move forward or move back.' Prime Minister's Literary Awards judges on Loner 'Georgina Young made me squirm and swoon and sigh as I fell head over heels for the exquisite paradoxes of her protagonist. Lona wonders why she can never say exactly the thing she means-lucky for us, we have Young, and she articulates all those things with smarts and humour and grace. This is a book to push into the hands of everyone you know, especially those who ever had trouble knowing themselves.' Kate Mildenhall on Loner.