It’s easy to forget how little of the world Joan will have seen. This all comes out in The Space Between Section 11.
Joan is quickly taken in by the beauty of Paris that she forgets all about how she felt before. I love that we see this, because it reminds us of how young Joan is.
Breaking down The Space Between Section 11
The section is a short one, as it’s a chance to see Joan for who she really is: still a child. People had to grow up quickly in the 18th century. I’m not sure we ever get just how old Joanie is. We know that she’s a few years younger than Marsali, who was just around the age of 15 when she left Scotland with Fergus and snuck onto the ship. This would likely put Joan around nine, I guess. It’s been around 10 years since then, so she is only around 19.
On top of that, she wouldn’t have seen much of the world. It’s not like her mom had a lot of money. People tended to stick to just the few miles around them, especially people like Laoghaire. This led to some romanticizing of the world outside, and Joan has surely done that.
So, when she gets to Paris, she forgets about everything she saw on the boat. She takes in the sights and the sounds. And she’s shocked at the size of Michael’s house when she gets there.
She’s brought back to reality when Michael’s sister-in-law comes out of the house. Michael stops in his tracks when he sees Leonie, feeling like he’s seeing Lillie’s ghost.
A man also leaves the house, and he introduces himself as Charles Pepin. Just as Joan tries to introduce herself, she hears the voices in her head again. The voices tell her to “tell him not to do it.” Of course, we have no idea what this means at this point, but it’s clear that Joan isn’t going mad. She has some sort of gift, and this short story is a chance to learn what that is.
Joan doesn’t have the chance to tell him, though. Feeling a wave of nausea, she throws up in one of the tree pots outside of the house.
Could this chapter be adapted for a TV series?
If The Space Between was adapted, I would like to see this section used. We need to see the wander that Joan has as she goes through Paris. It’s such a mirror from the way Claire looked around Paris, who was more in awe of seeing in the past as she had already seen what it would be like in 1940.
This chapter also gives us a chance to see Joan experience one of her voices. This could be done with a voiceover as Joan is about to introduce herself, and it would make sense to include it. The question would be how much of the voices and the visions she gets would be included in the story.
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