The Space Between Words - Michèle Phoenix

Published by Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins Publishers: Nashville, Tennessee, 2017.

Looking for a letter 'P' for the Alphabet Soup Challenge, I picked this book up in the library having no idea what it was about at all or who the author was. Learning from the cover that it had something to do with a terrorist attack that happened in France as well as some letters written by a Huguenot during the Reformation, I decided to give it a go. As I was walking to the counter I browsed the front and started seeing quotes that implied this might be a Christian book.

It's quite unique.

The main character Jessica and one of her two flatmates in Paris, Vonda, decide to attend a concert and are caught up in the mass shootings that took place in the Bataclan theatre in November 2015. A third flatmate, Patrick, visits Jessica in the hospital when she is recovering from her wounds and tries to convince her to continue on with a planned trip to various antique stores around France rather than letting fear get the better of her. In choosing to do this, Jessica and Patrick stumble across a bundle of papers hidden in an antique jewelry box, and as these papers are translated by one of their hosts, Grant, Jessica gets drawn in to the mystery of what happened to the author and her family, while also trying to deal with her own trauma over what happened in Paris.

That is a very 'book cover' synopsis. There are a number of twists and turns (some of which I felt were relatively obvious, yet were revealed early enough on in the plot to not be annoyingly so), and I found myself curious as to how the story would unfold even more than where the plot would go.

The Christian element is very subtle - God is barely mentioned until page 229, at which point the main characters have a brief discussion about His goodness and then carry on with their journey. They don't 'come to faith' at the end or have a big revelation about their own need for Him, and yet it asks some interesting questions that could lead to deeper discussions.

I liked it.

Even more so considering how much easier it was to read than my previous choice.

Completed 26 February 2022.



(Alphabet Soup Books)

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