If Tomorrow Doesn't Come

by Jen St. Jude

Overview

We Are Okay meets They Both Die at the End in this YA debut about queer first love and mental health at the end of the world-and the importance of saving yourself, no matter what tomorrow may hold.

Avery Byrne has secrets. She's queer; she's in love with her best friend, Cass; and she's suffering from undiagnosed clinical depression. But on the morning Avery plans to jump into the river near her college campus, the world discovers there are only nine days left to live: an asteroid is headed for Earth, and no one can stop it.

Trying to spare her family and Cass additional pain, Avery does her best to make it through just nine more days. As time runs out and secrets slowly come to light, Avery would do anything to save the ones she loves. But most importantly, she learns to save herself. Speak her truth. Seek the support she needs. Find hope again in the tomorrows she has left.

If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is a celebration of queer love, a gripping speculative narrative, and an urgent, conversation-starting book about depression, mental health, and shame.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781547611362
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	05/09/2023
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	108,147
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Lambda Literary Fellow Jen St. Jude (she/they) grew up in New Hampshire apple orchards and now lives in Chicago with her wife and dog. She holds degrees in creative writing from Colby College and Harvard University Extension School, and has served as an editor for Chicago Review of Books, Just Femme & Dandy, and Arcturus Magazine. When she's not reading or writing, you can find her cheering on the Chicago Sky and Red Stars. If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is her first novel.
jenstjude.com
@jenstjude

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/06/2023

On the morning that white 19-year-old Avery Byrne intends to take her own life by drowning in the river that winds through her Ivy League college campus, her phone blares with the same urgent message received across the world: a planet-destroying asteroid will strike Earth in nine days. Before she can follow through with her suicide plan, Avery’s Indian and Mexican best friend, Cass Joshi-Aguilar, calls to assure her that their recent falling-out is insignificant in light of the impending end of the world. Cass urges Avery to meet her in Boston so the pair can travel to their New Hampshire hometown together. Chapters alternate between the past and the present, as indicated via a countdown toward impact. Past entries depict Avery’s struggles with her burgeoning queer identity, as well as her depression and Catholic upbringing, while the present is punctuated by panic, survival efforts, and widespread existential dread. Avery’s complicated yet fierce relationship with Cass and the fraught energy between Avery and her parents are rendered in clear and emotive detail, yet most notable is St. Jude’s heart-achingly precise interpretation of one teenager’s experience with depression and suicidal ideation. Hope for a bright future is always evident in this sometimes dark, thought-provoking debut. Ages 14–up. (May)

Publishers Weekly

05/01/2023

Gr 10 Up—College freshman Avery, 19, is on the verge of dying by suicide when she receives a call telling her that an enormous asteroid is due to strike the planet in nine days, ending life as the world knows it. Avery and her roommate Aisha, a Nigerian international student with hopes of flying home, travel through the chaotic highways to find Avery's best friend Cass and finally reach Avery's parents in the suburbs where they are constructing a bunker. Avery's life story is told through a series of flashbacks detailing her history of suicidal ideation, and how she fell in love with her best friend. While the plan to survive the apocalypse slowly unravels, Avery and Cass finally declare their love for each other and attempt to have one last week together. St. Jude's writing is riveting, and the characters are well drawn. This book could be triggering for some readers, not only for those with suicidal ideation but also those with religious trauma. There are also threats of violence and consensual sex described on the page. The novel is an accurate depiction of the mind set and experiences of a person with depression, but it is perhaps too accurate in the way that every adult in a position of power over Avery fails her, even when she is actively seeking help. Where this book shines is the beautiful love story between two out lesbian characters that feels very grounded in their lifelong friendship. VERDICT Recommended; this beautifully written story is one to share (with care).—Jeri Murphy

School Library Journal

2023-02-08
Just as college freshman Avery Byrne is going to end her life, sirens blare, warning of an unimaginable crisis: An 8-mile-wide asteroid is set to hit Earth in nine days.

Avery, a former straight-A student, is a promising soccer recruit at an elite college in New Hampshire, and yet she finds herself friendless, on academic probation, struggling to find authentic queer love, and desperately missing her childhood bestie, Cass Joshi-Aguilar, who is living in New York City. Avery’s suicide plan tragically mirrors her Aunt Devin’s own back in her family’s homeland of Ireland—a heartbreaking family trauma that has provided a somber backdrop to Avery’s life. Through asynchronous chapters that switch between the present-day apocalyptic survival adventure and Avery’s childhood and teenage years, this courageous tale illuminates a young queer woman’s quest out of self-loathing toward self-acceptance. It boldly asks: When the end is near, how do we live, and whom do we hold most dear? Alongside the bleakness of the asteroid’s impending impact and the melancholy of Avery’s deep depression, St. Jude deftly navigates difficult topics such as death, generational trauma, mental health, and queerness in a conservative Catholic family. Supporting characters who are diverse in ethnicity and sexuality add real depth: Aisha, Avery’s Nigerian roommate and fellow soccer player, is asexual, and gregarious free spirit Cass is an Indian and Mexican lesbian.

A textured book offering readers hope in the face of impossibility. (resources) (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

Jen St. Jude's end of the world story makes for one hell of a debut novel. It's lush, searching, and ultimately full of hope. I loved it.” —Emily M. Danforth, national bestselling and award-winning author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post

“If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is a novel that carves a space in your heart and remains there forever. Breathtakingly written, Jen St. Jude masterfully explores queerness, depression, and shame, while beautifully capturing family, friendship, and love, and the intersections that often exist between these things. Hopeful above all else.” —Rachael Lippincott, New York Times bestselling author of She Gets the Girl

“This book is devastatingly brilliant. Jen St. Jude is hands down one of the most talented new voices in YA, and soon, everyone will know it.” —Leah Johnson, bestselling author of You Should See Me in a Crown and Rise to the Sun

“If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is a brilliant story of hope, healing, and resilience from a thoughtful and fearless new voice in YA.” —Brandy Colbert, award-winning author of Little & Lion

“An electric, urgent miracle of a book that asks what—and who—we dare to live for. Avery's story will shatter your heart and fill it with light again. Keep an eye on this writer: St. Jude is here to stay.” —Kelly Quindlen, bestselling author of She Drives Me Crazy and Her Name in the Sky

“A gorgeously written master class in exploring queerness and depression with honesty, gravity, and balance, If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is an absolute life-changer - and life-saver - of a book. It had my heart simultaneously cracking and blooming with hope from its very first lines long past The End.” —Dahlia Adler, author of Cool for the Summer

“If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is a beautiful exploration of the endless night of depression and the illuminating joy of what happens when morning comes and the sun rises. This stunning book is one you'll want tucked away in your backpack at the end of the world.” —Jas Hammonds, author of We Deserve Monuments

“Few storytellers can balance heartbreak and hope as powerfully as Jen St. Jude. If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is an incredible, poignant debut with a critical message and characters who will stick with you long after you've turned the final page.” —Robbie Couch, author of The Sky Blues

“An achingly tender and poignantly honest look at depression, queerness, and love at the end of the world, If Tomorrow Doesn't Come will break your heart and put it back together again. Jen St. Jude's breathtaking prose and thoughtful exploration of emotion firmly cements them as one of the most endearing new voices in YA. This book is a marvel.” —Adrienne Tooley, author of Sweet & Bitter Magic

“At once cinematic and intimate, If Tomorrow Doesn't Come weaves the apocalyptic chaos of a doomed world with the quiet vulnerability of complicated love to create an urgent, action-filled tapestry of humanity, hope, humor, and high stakes. The best kind of thriller: One that reminds you what it means to be alive, and what it means to be together.” —Tucker Shaw, author of When You Call My Name

“Avery's complicated yet fierce relationship with Cass and the fraught energy between Avery and her parents are rendered in clear and emotive detail, yet most notable is St. Jude's heart-achingly precise interpretation of one teenager's experience with depression and suicidal ideation. Hope for a bright future is always evident in this sometimes dark, thought-provoking debut.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is a gorgeously written portrayal of one teenager's decision to continue living and loving through impossible circumstances.” —Shelf Awareness

“Any student who has struggled with intense depression or feelings of isolation while friends and family drift away will identify with Avery.” —School Library Connection

“A worthy addition to a very narrow convergence of mental health crises that already exist at the verge of the end of the known world.” —BCCB

“St. Jude examines the viciousness of depression and the inexplicable way it has of being exacerbated by everything and nothing. . . This story is raw, but unflinching, too, until the bitter end.” —Booklist

“This courageous tale illuminates a young queer woman's quest out of self-loathing toward self-acceptance. It boldly asks: When the end is near, how do we live, and whom do we hold most dear? . . . A textured book offering readers hope in the face of impossibility.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher