Sometimes Xavier wakes up feeling hopeless. Every new doctor this will fix it. Removing him from school this will fix it. The therapy group this will fix it. And his dad moving out. Maybe, this will fix it. His daily affirmations seem to be helping, yet the black dog never really goes away. But Xavier has a plan. Enlisting the help of best friend Aster, he tries to convince his dad to turn the family sheep farm into a therapy retreat for the group session kids. But he is up against decades of tradition, his parents who are on a break, and the spectre of the black dog. Can Xavier learn to cherish the moments in between the struggles - the moments in the meantime? Xavier in the Meantime has been shortlisted in the 2023 CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers, and is a companion novel to 'Aster's Good, Right Things', winner of the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers.
