The Spaces in Between

What a strange and unusual story this is. The fact that it is true is mind boggling.

Poor Nicholas is in his early twenties and a bit down on his luck. Then low and behold a friend tells him of an English tutor position that is available and that also includes room and board. Finally he feels like things in his life are starting to look up.

So many warning signs he ignores. A bronze placard at the door which translates to "Let idle talk be silenced. Let laughter be banished. Here is the place where Death delights to succour Life." And so our tale begins and what a hallucinatory experience it is. I won't get into the details but this is one of the most disturbing stories I've read. Not gruesome, mind you. Just manipulative mind tricks that have Nicholas, and us the readers, questioning everything that is happening.

This is something I think you'll just have to read for yourself. To explain it would spoil everything.
It's well written and had me absolutely riveted to the pages.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The cover drew me in to begin with! So much mystery and that follows on when you get inside the book! It is one of those books that you never quite put your finger on as to what is happening - is it supernatural? Is it horror? Is it drama?! Well, it's all 3! I found it to be a really fascinating mix of mystery and intrigue and it kept me engrossed throughout.
We start with the viewpoint of the Doctor of Psychiatry who is talking about one of her patients whose case has her baffled. She then makes him write his story out and that is what we then read and get to know Nicholas and what had been happening to him that had left him in such a state! He was running out of money fast and had nowhere to go, when a mysterious job opportunity opened up to teach English to a young woman in an aristocratic household. And this is where the fun/madness begins!
It isn't your normal household!! If you like your characters weird and disturbed then you're in luck! The household have to live in Victorian conditions - no electricity, no tv or radio - just oil lamps, candles and coal fires - to appease the Grand Duchess. His pupil is the Princess Nataliya who is 17 and has an illness that leaves her unable to leave the home. There is also a very dark side to her mental condition and Nicholas soon gets to witness this first hand.

This book does a great job of leaving you guessing as to whether you are reading fact or fiction. Could a household live like this and all the strange goings on, did they really happen? There was always a really unsettling feeling about what was happening, and what would happen next! I did find the first half of the book much more enthralling as I found the story did run out of steam a little towards the end, but it still made for such a fascinating read

thank you to the publishers for the advanced readers copy in return for a fair and honest review