Space is set in the southern states of USA. It depicts a couple, deeply in-love, who are torn apart – both in themselves and from each other – by their daughter. The novel opens with a touching scene of family unity, underpinned by Deede’s awareness of her daughter’s absence. The contrast between the unity and the following panic concerning their daughter’s well-being when they learn she has overdosed sets up the tone for the rest of the novel.
Through the spiritual voice of Deede, Emily Sue Harvey candidly exposes what it is like to live with a drug addict. Each tiny victory is blown out by catastrophic failure and Deede’s hopeless optimism begins to wear thin. The reader is dragged along on an emotional roller-coaster; the tracks being Faith’s road through drug addiction and the cart is the tenuous family solidarity that creaks and groans with each new obstacle. Any moment it will derail sending the Stowe/Eagle clan to destruction.
The tight-knit family from the prologue struggles to hold it together. Gradually, one by one, they turn their back on Faith. Her name is ironic. No one has faith in her yet it, and support is what she needs to find her way back to the tracks. Dan Stowe reacts with vigorous discipline and Deede with the more softly, softly approach. Whether either of them has it in them to turn their daughter around is irrelevant. It is the emotional drama which gives this novel its charm.
The characterisation in this novel is the key to its power. Each character is fully realised and has distinct relationships with others. The conflicts that arise out of family solidarity and logic cast the reader into a see-saw as to who to sympathise with. As relationships become strained or sometimes strengthened as the novel progresses the drama and impact escalates.
Recovering from drug addiction is hard, and even harder to write about. Harvey unflinchingly goes into insightful detail on the experience from both mother and daughter perspectives. The plot itself is harrowing at times but incredibly real and true to life. Love still shines through the text despite the desperate situations proving Noni’s comment:
“With all its sham, drugery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”
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Published by The Story Plant
Kindle Edition 13th Sept 2011
Paperback 20th Oct 2011
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