The Space Between by Lauren Keenan took me by surprise given the subject matter, historical events, and the two perspectives at the heart of this novel. I wasn’t sure what to expect upon picking up the novel, but I am so happy I did because The Space Between blew my mind and has piqued my curiosity to learn even more about the New Zealand Wars. To think I knew so little about this extremely significant part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s history.

How do you choose between two sides, when you don’t belong on either? Frances is an unmarried Londoner newly landed in colonial Aotearoa at the dawn of the First Taranaki War. Once well-regarded, her family’s impressive fall from grace sees them seeking their fortune in a raw, new country and struggling to learn the strange etiquette of settler life. When Frances comes face-to-face with Henry White, the man who mysteriously broke her heart a decade earlier, he’s standing outside Thorpe’s General Store with a sack of flour in his arms. Flabbergasted, she is determined to find out why he ended their relationship. Henry is married now, to the proud and hardy Matāria. Humiliated by her staunch sister Atarangi because of her controversial marriage and their painful past, Matāria lives at the edges of her papakainga. With conflict swelling between her iwi and English settlers, Matāria fears for the lives of her husband and their young twins. When fighting breaks out, Frances and Matāria find their lives intersecting in surprising, and catastrophic, ways. Each woman must confront her past as she struggles to survive the present, both questioning whether they’ll ever belong, or if they’re doomed to exist in the uncomfortable space between.

The Space Between brings so many elements of place and space together with such cinematic detail – from the geographic setting of Ngāmotu New Plymouth to the historical setting of the early 1860s and the cultural setting of a land on the verge of war – allowing for the perspectives to come through in the action and dialogue and the tone of the novel to be stated amid the brewing tension, steady pace, and conflicts arising. There are also moments where the social and communal setting can be referenced, for example the exchanges between Pākehā shopowners and Māori prior to the enforcement of documentation for Māori and how that pre-established relationship has been changed as a result. I love seeing the subtle indications of these norms ebwteen Pākehā and Māori that show a mutually beneficial relationship. Similarly, you can see a distinct difference in how each side thinks about land ownership and the right to roam.

The Space Between is similar to Kāwai: Tree of Nourishment with its time setting and the interactions between Pākehā and Māori, but The Space Between‘s focus on Ngāmotu New Plymouth and the sparking of the New Zealand Wars in the region gives the novel its own foundations. This is a read for the historical ficiton and non-fictino readers out there, as well as those wanting a bit of a period drama read given the mannerisms and setting. All in all, The Space Between is not a book to leave out of your book bag.