The Space Between Us

"The Space Between Us" is an original novel about a young woman, Samantha, who has recently moved to DC in order to escape her mother and the limitations her mother places upon her life. Her deepest desire that she cannot articulate is to be subsumed by another---to literally disappear through the medium of touch and the sexual act. She reenacts this desire through two relationships: Riley, a man in his fifties who has trouble completing the act, and Kathryn, Riley's sister, who resists Samantha's desire for tenderness but allows her a temporary escape through orgasm. The novel reaches a climax when Riley discovers Samantha's relationship with his sister and breaks up with her right before her mother arrives for a visit. By the end, Samantha emerges from her passive role to resist her mother's domination and discovers the beauty and power in her body's solitary articulations: her own autonomy.