The Space Between Us: This year's most life-affirming, awe-inspiring read – Selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers 2023 (Volume 1) (The Enceladons Trilogy)

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These elements gave the story more dept, and it helped turn the plot into so much more than just a group of unlikely characters being chased while they try to protect Sandy. The three main characters suffer catastrophic strokes and are hospitalized, only to be completely recovered by morning (16 others were not so lucky).

It is beautifully written story about the power of connections of all kinds, with some very human characters alongside our extra-terrestrial visitor. A novel where the central character in peril is so unlike anything you would normally feel a connection to is the novel has made me feel the most empathy and sympathy for that character than any other book I have read so far this year. That choice will lead the group across large swathes of Scotland and into all kinds of trouble - from Ava's husband, from the police, from a mysterious chap in a sharp suit with hulking minders, and from a journalist, Ewan, who starts out following the story but ends up engulfed by it. Breaking free from a marriage marred by coercive control and a constant threat of violence, and reconnecting with family she though lost is truly moving, portrayed in a way which creates as much anger as it does sympathy.

My recovery was quick and I was back at my writing desk within a few weeks, much to my own surprise.

There are so many themes going on in this book that it is going to be impossible to talk about them all in a review of a readable length for the blog and, I think, I would get something different from this book each time I read it so I am going to focus just on the ones that struck me most on first reading.The road trip element allows us to explore the three main characters’ personalities and histories, making the resolutions they reach all the more meaningful and moving. The final chapters of this escape-cum-road trip are as urgent and action-packed as you could want, interspersed with Sandy's increasing joy at the prospect of reconnecting - when they finally say it's just perfect.