The Space between the Stars by Anne Corlett is an enthralling novel of love, the choices we make, and what it means to be human. It's also a dramatic road-trip across the stars, as a woman journeys across a plague-ravaged universe to the place she once called home, and the man she once loved.
How far would you travel to find your way home?
Jamie Allenby wakes, alone, and realizes her fever has broken. But could everyone she knows be dead? Months earlier, Jamie had left her partner Daniel, mourning the miscarriage of their baby. She’d just had to get away, so took a job on a distant planet. Then the virus hit.
Jamie survived as it swept through our far-flung colonies. Now she feels desperate and isolated, until she receives a garbled message from Earth. If someone from her past is still alive – perhaps Daniel – she knows she must find a way to return.
She meets others seeking Earth, and their ill-matched group will travel across space to achieve their dream. But they’ll clash with survivors intent on repeating humanity’s past mistakes, threatening their precious fresh start. Jamie will also get a second chance at happiness. But can she escape her troubled past, to embrace a hopeful future?
About the Author
Anne Corlett has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and has won a number of awards for her short stories, including the H. E. Bates Award. She works as a criminal solicitor and freelance writer, and lives with her partner and three young boys in Somerset. The Space between the Stars is her first novel.
Industry Reviews
Anne Corlett is a writer with huge potential, and I'm looking forward to her future works -- Claire North, author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August An original thinker and a very, very effective writer -- Fay Weldon Anne Corlett is a natural writer, full of stories -- Maggie Gee Beautifully written -- Laura Lam A thoughtful, even meditative apocalypse * SFX * An impressively strong debut . . . rewards the reader with real characters, strong emotional beats, and a fantastic journey across the stars * The Book Bag * Corlett's prose lures you in * Culturess * The Space Between the Stars is one of my favourite books of the summer. One part post-apocalyptic `found family' adventure, one part thoughtful exploration of trauma and grief, The Space Between the Stars is a refreshingly intimate and hopeful spin on the end-of-the-world narrative * Den of Geek * The Space Between The Stars is - for me, at least - this year's Station Eleven . . . it spoke straight to my heart and unstrung it, leaving me crying quietly on an aeroplane . . . Like Station Eleven, this is a story that uses a SF conceit to explore human nature rather than a story that is interested in its SF trappings * Speculative Herald * Enthralling . . . thought provoking, in ways that will have you thinking about what it means to be a member of the human race long after you have read the last page * LitBuzz * Intriguing and wise * Shelf Awareness *
