The Space Between Us: This year's most life-affirming, awe-inspiring read – Selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers 2023 (Volume 1) (The Enceladons Trilogy)

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If this had been a book published by anyone other than Orenda, I probably would never have picked it up, and what a horrible shame that would have been. Despite having no idea what to expect I bought it as it was recommended on BBC Between The Covers; which is usually a safe bet.

The closest comparison, again, is the Arrival-aliens; sentient enough to communicate, but so completely alien that their comprehension of some concepts is so different from our human ones. I’ve been a huge fan of the genre ever since I sat slack-jawed in the cinema watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind as a seven-year-old. Quite a short book at 300 pages and I definitely could have read more but I see there is the possibility of a sequel so I will look forward to that. Johnstone also manages to steer away from the stereotypes that might be drawn upon when writing about a young black man from the care system. This wasn’t some corny sci-fi, this was a story of connection, friendship and family that is full of hope.

Modern media, and news reports, make it easy to be cynical and think the worst of the 7 billion inhabitants of this planet.

I was gripped from the first page, it was almost unputdownable and unpredictable in its twists and turns. They don't know each other, but when a meteor streaks over Edinburgh, all three suffer instant, catastrophic strokes. Sandy is an alien creature and, without knowing anything about it, people have very different reactions to it.

Continuing my love-in with the remarkable stable of authors maintained by indie publisher Orenda Books, I’m looking at The Space Between Us, a heartwarming alien-contact novel, reminiscent of Stephen Cox’s Our Child of the Stars. Doug Johnstone dipped his toes in the water of science fiction with Fault Lines, and now with The Space Between Us has dived in fully - but has not abandoned what I love about his novels, which is his amazing character work. As the journey continues they learn more about the alien, its home planet, and the rest of the hive. I still, to this moment, hours after finishing this book, have not managed to work out how Doug Johnstone has made an alien cephalopod who can’t speak a creature that can illicit such empathy and such strong emotion from, not only the three protagonists in the book, but from the reader as well. And when they do, they find themselves coming together to try and understand what has happened to them.

Set in Edinburgh, The Space Between Us is the story of three people who become connected in the most bizarre fashion. All see a flash of light in the sky and collapse where they are; all three wake up in the same hospital ward. This is a fabulous book about human interactions and issues of the main characters in our current society thrust together by the central alien character(s). The gap that is the space between us has to close if we are ever to realise the true potential of the human race. It's not my preferred genre and whilst I have a very scientific mind, it's just not a genre I've ever been engaged by.I only spent a couple of days in the stroke ward and was able to recuperate at home, though my sense of balance was gone and I was prone to extreme headaches and super-sensitive to noise. If you aren’t a sci-fi fan please don’t let this put you off as this is such a beautiful book that touched my heart and soul. These are scars that run deep and finding each other is only the start of their journey towards healing. The whole story is very similar and if the domestic violence that is inflicted on Ava the pregnant woman, would have been more muted, the book would actually be a good YA recommendation.