Book: The Space Between Words
Author: Michèle Phoenix
Country: France
Review: 5/5
I chose to read The Space Between words for my French book in my journey to read books from every country in the world (@BeyondPageOne on Instagram). Having previously read Le Petit Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) and Les Misérables (Victor Hugo), both of which I greatly enjoyed, I decided it was time to read something in between these two renowned stories and I settled on this contemporary novel. It is a fictional story that takes place following the Paris attacks in November 2015. I remember quite clearly learning about these attacks; I had only recently gotten my first phone and social media accounts and was mind-blown with how fast the horrific news (and support for those affected) was spread online. It was important to me to revisit this event years later and learn more about the recent history of France, showing a different side than is normally shown of the City of Lights, especially in comparison to the wide variety of Paris-set novels.
I think that this is a beautiful novel that weaves two tragedies together to strengthen the plot. Going into this novel, I had very little knowledge of the Huguenots, but I love historical fiction every now and then and greatly enjoyed the balance between the characters. I think that Phoenix’s perspective as a French woman with American and Canadian parents aided the novel, giving it a fulsome viewpoint. Both Jessica’s and Adeline’s stories were well-written and had intricate parallels. I loved the sense of mystery and symbolism with the sewing box and the ladybugs among other items.
I can’t imagine the amount of research that must have gone into this novel to recreate such tragic, life-changing events in a realistic way. Although I have never experienced these types of events (and I’m not sure of the author’s experiences), I found that the grief and fear portrayed were truthful: it is not glazed over and doesn’t magically become cured—it is ongoing throughout the entirety of the novel and we don’t hear any details of the terrorist attacks until later on. The heartbreaking plot twist caught me completely off guard and came at me full force, and I found it very easy to picture the characters (especially Patrick).
There wasn’t much criticism that I felt was needed, although I do feel like the “romance” was unnecessary (I feel as though it takes away from the other important and complex layers of the story), and I feel like reordering the 1600’s pages would be beneficial (the first glance at Adeline’s story was confusing and it didn’t blend as seamlessly with the novel due to lack of context).
Lastly, I want to touch on the interesting topics of religion discussed in relation to horrific events such as the terrorist attacks that Jessica experienced. I am a non-religious person and don’t necessarily agree on each aspect spoken about, but interesting to speak about all the same and I think people of any religion or background would benefit from this novel marketed as “Christian Fiction”. Religion in this novel is not meant to be “in your face” but serves as a different perspective for understanding these events.
I greatly enjoyed this book to add to my international reads! Stay tuned for other book recommendations for this country and other countries, and follow my journey on Instagram @beyondpageone and find more reviews on my GoodReads page: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/116494925-kaitlyn-nightingale Thank you and happy reading!
Feature image from Goodreads.