There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on Earth…

Emma Maria Rossini appears to be the luckiest girl in the world. She’s the daughter of a beautiful and loving mother, and her father is one of the most famous film actors of his generation. She’s also the granddaughter of a rather eccentric and obscure Italian astrophysicist.

But as her seemingly charmed life begins to unravel, and Emma experiences love and tragedy, she ultimately finds solace in her once-derided grandfather’s Theorem on the universe.

The Space Between Time is humorous and poignant and offers the metaphor that we are all connected, even to those we have loved and not quite lost.

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My Review

I chose to listen to this book after receiving a free audio copy. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

The Space Between Time is from Emma’s perspective and the narrator has the perfect voice for Emma. She also does a good job with timing.

Emma grew up wealthy with a movie star father and a gorgeous mother. What sounds like a storybook childhood was anything but. Her father was rarely around and her mother was unhappy and depressed. In fact, Emma felt protective of her mother and they were very close.

When Emma was older, she began using her middle name and didn’t want anyone to know who her father was. Not only did she not like the fame, but she didn’t like her father. She built a life but had some mental problems. She was eventually able to confront her demons with help.

I liked the story but could have done without the theories and the math. Rather than adding to the story, it distracted from it, and I tended to “tune out.”

This story is unique and if you don’t mind a slow-moving book (unless you like astrophysics), you should like it.

About the Author

I was born in Paisley, central Scotland, which wasn’t my fault. That week, Eddie Calvert with Norrie Paramor and his Orchestra were Top of the Pops, with Oh, Mein Papa, as sung by a young German woman remembering her once-famous clown father. That gives a clue to my age, not my musical taste.

I was brought up in the west of Scotland (quite near Paisley, but thankfully not too close) and graduated from the University of Edinburgh. I still have the scroll, but it’s in Latin, so it could say anything.

I then worked briefly as a street actor, baby photographer, puppeteer and restaurant dogsbody before becoming a journalist. I started in Glasgow and ended up in London, covering news, features and politics. I interviewed motorbike ace Barry Sheene, Noel Edmonds threatened me with legal action and, because of a bureaucratic muddle, I was ordered out of Greece.

I then took a year to travel round the world, visiting 19 countries. Highlights included being threatened by a man with a gun in Dubai, being given an armed bodyguard by the PLO in Beirut (not the same person with a gun), and visiting Robert Louis Stevenson’s grave in Samoa. What I did for the rest of the year I can’t quite remember.

Surprisingly, I was approached by a government agency to work in intelligence, which just shows how shoddy government recruitment was back then. However, it turned out to be very boring and I don’t like vodka martini.

Craving excitement and adventure, I ended up as a PR consultant, which is the fate of all journalists who haven’t won a Pulitzer Prize, and I’ve still to listen to Oh, Mein Papa.

I am married with two grown-up children and live in East Lothian.

Website https://charlielaidlawauthor.com/
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