The Sunday Times bestseller
A stunning science fiction debut, The Space Between Worlds is both a cross-dimensional adventure and a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging.
'My mother used to say I was born reaching, which is true. She also used to say it would get me killed, which it hasn't. Not yet, anyway.'
Born in the dirt of the wasteland, Cara has fought her entire life just to survive. Now she has done the impossible, and landed herself a comfortable life on the lower levels of the wealthy and walled-off Wiley City. So long as she can keep her head down and avoid trouble, she's on a sure path to citizenship and security - on this world, at least.
Of the 380 realities that have been unlocked, Cara is dead in all but 8.
Cara's parallel selves are exceptionally good at dying - from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn't outrun - which makes Cara wary, and valuable. Because while multiverse travel is possible, no one can visit a world in which their counterpart is still alive. And no one has fewer counterparts than Cara.
But then one of her eight doppelgangers dies under mysterious circumstances, and Cara is plunged into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and future in ways she never could have imagined - and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her earth, but the entire multiverse.
Staff Choice: Sophie
This is an action-packed and twisty thriller wrapped up in a dystopian near-future with a bit of a Mad Max feel to it, lightly drizzled with parallel worlds science theory and a dollop of philosophical inquiry.
If that sounds overdone: it’s really not! Johnson manages to balance it all quite well, and I really enjoyed reading it. There are some huge twists and reveals throughout that I absolutely loved, and that kept me on my mental toes.
Recommended if you like parallel worlds and gritty thrillers and stubborn, kick-ass heroines and a properly diverse cast of side characters and don’t mind being U-turned throughout the book.
