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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As the journey continues they learn more about the alien, its home planet, and the rest of the hive.

It is impossible to read this book without drawing comparisons to what is going on here today and I think this is part of the reason it evoked such strong emotions in me on this reading. There’s a deep sense of loneliness to all of them at the start, and their journey of connection to each other, themselves and the humans around them is a wonderful one to witness. He published two novels with Penguin, Tombstoning (2006) and The Ossians (2008), which received praise from Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin and Christopher Brookmyre. I both liked and believed “Sandy”, an alien octopus of sorts, who comes in contact with three main characters, each of whom is struggling with loneliness and hardship. Lennox, Ava and Heather at first seem very different with no apparent connection apart from seeing lights in the sky and surviving a stroke.There is media curiosity but, in most cases, it is thought to be just an odd looking creature that needs disposing of.

Sandy is total empathy, able to enter into their inner thoughts and feelings, infusing them with well-being and love. I loved following their stories, how they came together and put total trust in each other in their journey to save Sandy. That choice will lead the group across large swathes of Scotland and into all kinds of trouble - from Ava's husband, from the police, from a mysterious chap in a sharp suit with hulking minders, and from a journalist, Ewan, who starts out following the story but ends up engulfed by it.The space between us is such an apt title for a book that is more about human relationships than first contact with aliens, even though the central character is an alien with remarkable qualities and abilities, the story line is also totally focused on the outcome of the interaction with the alien 'Sandy', however, it is the inspection of the circumstances of the three or four humans that drive the story in such a successful way. A novel where the central character in peril is so unlike anything you would normally feel a connection to is the novel has made me feel the most empathy and sympathy for that character than any other book I have read so far this year.

However,all three are at a difficult point in their lives; Lennox is sixteen, in a childrens home and being bullied, Ava is eight months pregnant and trying to escape her abusive husband and Heather is suicidal after the loss of her daughter and her diagnosis of terminal cancer. A few hours later at hospital it was confirmed as a moderate cerebellar stroke, a rare type with none of the usual symptoms.It is his ability to speak to big themes such as our place in the universe that makes this first contact novel so special. However, whether he likes it or not, he gets entangled with Lennox, Ava, and Heather, and he ends up helping them in their quest. These humans understand and are willing to do anything to save this creature from the experimental hands of the scientists and government officials.

Of all the things I was expecting from this book, being taken to some emotional places I have never been taken to by a sci-fi book before was not one of them. The book had me gripped from the first page, it is almost unputdownable and unpredictable in its twists and turns, every page left me wanting more.I love his writing style and I know that he can be trusted to deliver a book which goes far beyond what the blurb may suggest. As they are coming to terms with this bizarre situation, they hear a huge cephalopod has been found on Yellowcraig Beach. The bond he formed with Sandy, that closeness that surpasses anything that Ava or Heather feel, really pulled me into the story. The communication between them, the understanding, is reminiscent of the bond between a certain short legged, waddling alien with an obscenely long finger from a well loved 80's movie, and his new friend Ell-ee-ot, but there is so much more to Sandy, a real cognisance which helps to develop our understanding of what is happening.