Zac & Mia

Author(s): A. J. Betts

Young Adult

A moving story about love and hope found in the most unexpected of places


Mia’s not your typical hospital patient. Her next-door neighbor, Zac, can hear her fighting with her mom and the nurses through their shared wall and he wishes she’d get over herself. But soon they are trading messages that evolve into a bond neither sees coming.


Apart from illness, they have little in common: she’s a gorgeous girl with an entourage of perfect friends and he’s a soccer-playing farm boy. In the real world, these two seventeen-year-olds would have little to say to each other, but in the hospital the usual rules no longer apply.


By the time Zac is discharged, Mia is gone too, and he wonders about her. Is she okay? Is she better? He can’t find out. She’s left Facebook and won’t answer his texts. Until the night he hears a tap at his window.


Told in alternating perspectives, Zac and Mia tracks the relationship of two ordinary teenagers in exceptional circumstances. They’re both in remission, but cancer has changed everything, and normal isn’t normal anymore. This is a funny and tender novel about hope, love and courage.


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Product Information

awardWinner, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature, 2014

awardWinner, Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards, ANZ, 2014

awardWinner, The Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing, 2012

awardShortlisted, Queensland Literary Awards, Griffith University Young Adult Book Award, 2014

awardShortlisted, West Australian Young Readers’ Book Awards, 2015

awardLonglisted, Gold Inky Award, 2014

awardShortlisted, Dioraphte Prize, Netherlands, 2015

awardShortlisted, Buxtehuder Bulle Award, Germany, 2014

A.J. Betts is an author, teacher, speaker and cyclist. Zac & Mia, the winner of the Text Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing, is her third novel for young adults. Her others are ShutterSpeed and Wavelength. She lives in Perth, and writes when she's not pedalling.

General Fields

  • : 9781922147257
  • : The Text Publishing Company
  • : Text Publishing
  • : June 2013
  • : August 2013
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : A. J. Betts
  • : Paperback