The Space Between
The Space Between is the story of a young Filipina girl, Isabelle, who is left behind by her mother in the Philippines to be raised by her grandmother. Isabelle dreams of her Mother who could be a queen and her American father who could be a powerful general. After nine years, Belle’s mother returns to the Philippines in order to bring Belle home to a small American city in Kansas. Belle’s mother and father are nothing like she expected.
As Isabelle grows she discovers that her sister, Corie, who wasn’t left in the Philippines, is being molested by her father and the horrible reality of her new life in America begins.
While Isabelle is growing up in an impoverished island in the Philippines, we meet Nicholas, an All-American boy who has a relatively easy life in comparison to Isabelle. Nicholas’s life is a series of funny events and moves quickly until the point when Belle meets Nick in junior high.
Isabelle has moved to Garden City, Kansas from Scott City, Kansas because the post office transfers her father in order to rid him of the embarrassment of being charged with child molestation. While Isabelle is dealing with talking to case workers about her father sleeping with her sister Corie, Nick is experiencing parties for the first time and just living a carefree life.
Nick’s and Isabelle’s lives cross several times and eventually they begin dating in high school. At this time, Nick is dealing with his first real conflict with his wrestling coach and the supposed "Honor Code" that the coach professes to follow. The dating causes Belle’s father to become jealous and he confronts Nicholas’s parents and accuses Nick and Belle of having sex. This ludicrous charge goes against the entire morality that Belle’s grandma instilled in her and Nick’s parents think that Isabelle’s father sounds strangely like a jealous boyfriend.
Eventually, Isabelle’s parents disown her and rip her pictures off of the walls of their house. Isabelle moves in with her sister Corie who has severe emotional damage because she only had a week’s worth of counseling to help her deal with several years of being raped by her father. Isabelle’s sister marries a man like her father and Nick and Belle have to learn how to deal with all of Belle’s sister’s bad choices that stem from not knowing what love is.
Corie lives in a house where Belle witnesses drug use and calls Nick for advice. Nick swallows his pride and calls his wrestling coach, Coach Johnson, to ask Coach if he can take him up on a prior offer and move Belle into his house. Coach Johnson agrees and the relationship flourishes. Belle experiences a normal life for the first time. She begins to deal with her problems and her relationship with Nick continues to grow until Nick and Belle graduate from high school. They continue as partners in life hoping to clear any new obstacles they may face, together, and live their lives in the space that lies between whatever obstacle life puts in front of them. | 