Praise for
ANTIPODES
“Michele Bacon’s writing expertly plunges us into a captivating New Zealand setting and Erin’s journey as she learns how to whole-heartedly live her life rather than simply accomplish it. Antipodes is a must-read.”
—Natasha Sinel, author of The Fix and Soulstruck
“Antipodes is an engrossing read about being right side up when you’re upside down, and finding yourself when you didn’t even know you were lost. When you read Michele Bacon’s richly-detailed, fully-realized New Zealand, you’ll want to visit. When you meet Hank, you’ll want to stay.”
—Katie Kennedy, author of What Goes Up
“Antipodes is a love story, yes, and as much one about loving ourselves for who and what we are. It’s wise, compassionate, and bursting with the bittersweet complexity of adolescence.”
—Martha Brockenbrough, author of The Game of Love and Death
Praise for
LIFE BEFORE
“A gripping story about a shattered family and one boy’s journey to begin again. Bacon takes on the subject of domestic violence with skill and compassion in this fast-paced, suspenseful, and thoroughly enjoyable novel.”
—Kirsten Lopresti, author of Bright Coin Moon
“Xander is a believable protagonist who triumphs over fear and trauma. Michele Bacon adds a new, honest, and strong voice.”
—Cheryl Rainfield, author of Scars and Stained
“Life Before is a thought-provoking and engaging read, which beautifully illustrates that anyone could be striving to overcome difficulties—no matter what you see on the surface.”
—Mindi Scott, author of Free Fall and Live Through This
“A riveting story told in a voice that will resonate with teens…. A great read-alike for teens who enjoyed Alex Flinn’s Breathing Underwater, Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, or Sharon Draper’s Hazelwood High trilogy.”
—School Library Journal
“Both a coming-of-age story and a nail-biting thriller, this debut novel will appeal to a wide range of readers.”
—VOYA Magazine teen reviewer
Also by Michele Bacon
Life Before
Copyright © 2018 by Michele Bacon
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover design by Kate Gartner
Interior design by Joshua Barnaby
Map by Karen Rank
Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-2361-0
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-2364-1
Printed in the United States of America
for Heather Booth
because she’s the best
ANTIPODES /an‘tipde-z/
noun
1. Direct or exact opposites. Erin’s months studying abroad were the antipodes of her previous life.
2. (often capitalized) Australia and New Zealand, The Antipodes
ONE
Last July, Erin had studied astrophysics at Harvard’s Pre-College Program. Even Astrophysics at Harvard was easier than this.
July as Erin once knew it was over. Here, in the Southern Hemisphere, July was the dead of winter, and Erin Cerise was in limbo. Twenty-four hours prior, she’d departed her childhood home, boarded a flight in Chicago, flown across her own country, and traversed the vast span of the Pacific Ocean. In a mad panic, she’d edited the third draft of her personal essay for college applications and tried in vain to sleep on the plane next to her snoring, fetid seatmate.
Erin was eager to end her journey and begin her exile halfway around the world. Her fellow passengers, however, possessed no comparable sense of urgency as they disembarked in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Erin flexed and released her fingers, an unconscious signal she needed to lay hands on her cello immediately. Her Suzuki teacher insisted she practice daily and, until this little excursion, she’d held a streak of 2,243 consecutive days. She’d reached the twenty-four-hour point mid-flight, and crossing the International Date Line had forced her to miss Friday entirely.
Erin was starting over at Day One.
With cello, that is. If only she could start over at Day One with everything else, turn back the clock twenty-four hours to summer in Chicago, or a bit further to when Ben loved her in early May, or to when she was assured the swimming captainship, or back to summers in Michigan.
Any one of those would suffice. She wanted to turn back the clock to a time—any time—when she’d been happy.
Today, she was not happy.
Mid-July was winter in New Zealand, so Erin felt upside down already. Departing sunny, humid Chicago to endure a second winter Down Under felt more like punishment than a clever ploy to augment her college applications.
Just two months prior, she’d had excellent college prospects, complete independence, a supportive swim team, and a great boyfriend in Wheaton, twenty-six miles west of Chicago.
But one tiny cosmic shift had ruined everything, much like lollygagging New Zealanders were ruining her first morning in Christchurch.
Kiwis. New Zealand people called themselves kiwis. She knew that much.
Sidestepping a family of five, Erin dashed past a wall of windows that would have offered her a first glimpse of Christchurch’s vast azure sky, unmarred by clouds. Tourists snapped photos, but Erin was ready to meet her host family and establish her new schedule.
Her loss of swim team captainship left a huge—gaping—hole in her college applications, to say nothing of the voids in her weekly calendar.
Voids, vacuums, and black holes had mesmerized Erin for most of eleventh grade. Where voids in the universe kept planets and solar systems at peace, however, voids in her schedule and résumé
