My Rating: 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4
This book turned out to be a bit different from what I
expected it would be, though not necessarily in a bad way. Originally, when I had read the synopsis of
the book (which is what had prompted me to request it from NetGalley in the
first place), I was expecting a dual timeline historical fiction novel with
equal (or near equal) emphasis on both the historical and contemporary
storyline, as this type of narrative structure seems to be the norm nowadays
with this genre. Michele Phoenix’s The
Space Between Words turned out to be a “different” type of book in that
the story is actually a contemporary one, albeit with some historical elements
woven in. The main narrative revolves
around events that took place not too long ago (in 2015), with a small portion
of the book jumping briefly back to a historical event that took place back in
the 17th century.
The story takes place at the end of 2015, right after the
horrific terrorist attacks on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, France. The main character is thirty-four-year-old
Jessica, who was in attendance at the concert along with one of her friends
when gunfire erupted in the main chamber of the concert hall. Jessica endured injuries during the shooting
and even though she survived and was physically on the path to recovery, the
emotional wounds were far from healed.
Wrestling with the emotional trauma from her ordeal and haunted by
memories from that fateful day that she wanted desperately to forget, Jessica’s
first instinct was to flee France as soon as possible. However, after some persuasive encouragement
from her roommate and best friend Patrick, who had been steadfastly by her side
the entire time, Jessica decides to take his advice and continue on with the
treasure-hunting trip that the two of them had planned prior to the attack, in
the hopes that it will help Jessica with her healing process. During the trip, Jessica discovers an antique
sewing box with old documents inside, which she finds out upon having them
translated that they date back to 1695 – pages written by a young French woman
named Adeline during a time when the Huguenots in Catholic France were being
persecuted for their religious beliefs.
Seeking emotional healing from her own ordeal, Jessica is drawn to
Adeline’s narrative and, along with the new friends she meets during her trip,
she sets out on a journey to find out the rest of Adeline and her family’s
story as they attempted to flee religious persecution in 17th
century France.
I struggled a bit with how to rate this book, as I definitely
enjoyed the story overall: the writing
was excellent, the characters were likable, and the author did a good job
weaving past and present events into the narrative. I especially liked how the history of the
Huguenot persecution from the 17th century was presented in the form
of Adeline’s story – this was a time period and event that I knew next to
nothing about so I appreciated getting some exposure to that part of history in
a way that was accessible but also heartfelt.
The timeliness of the novel in taking on the Paris terrorist attacks and
its aftermath also makes this a book that is necessary and should be read given
the current situation not just in the U.S. but also around the world. With all that said however, there were definitely
some issues with the plot – mainly the contemporary part about Jessica and her
experience – that I found difficult to ignore and detracted from the
story. Some parts of the plot felt a bit
too “contrived” and at times, I found myself questioning the plausibility of
some of the things that occurred. I also
felt that some parts of the book came across a bit “preachy,” which I guess
wasn’t too surprising given the religious context with the main events in the
book (I found out later that this book is being marketed as Christian fiction,
which, while it has no bearing on whether I would’ve read this book or not,
since I read across genres and base my decision to read on the book’s synopsis
as well as recommendations from friends, it did explain where the “preachiness”
came from). Fortunately, the religious
aspect wasn’t too overdone so I think those who aren’t interested in the religious
part can still read and enjoy the story.
On the positive side, there was a “twist” at some point in the narrative
that was totally unexpected and I felt was done well. The “mystery” element with Jessica
discovering bit by bit what eventually happened to Adeline’s family was also
done well and for me, the history part was a huge redeeming factor for the
flaws in the main narrative.
In the end, I decided on a rating of 3.5 stars, rounded
up to 4, as I felt the positives outweighed the negatives for the most part and
the writing was truly very good, plus the story was engaging. I would definitely recommend this one for
those who like contemporary stories with a historical element as well as a
little mystery and romance thrown in. I
would also recommend reading the final published version of the book rather
than an advance copy, as the ARC I received was missing the Author’s Notes section. I’m a huge fan of Author’s Notes and actually
feel this section is necessary (perhaps should even be mandatory) when the book
deals with real life historical events.
I will admit to being a little disappointed with the lack of Author’s
Notes in my version, though not really a deal-breaker since I can borrow a
final version later on and read the notes at that time.
Received ARC from
Thomas Nelson / Harper Collins publishing via NetGalley
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