We continue with Michael’s story in The Space Between section 16. He thinks about the future of Paris.
I’ll admit that I don’t remember Claire telling Michael about the future of Paris. I do in the TV series, but not in the books. I guess I need to go back and read the books once more to get that reminder. There are little things like that that I’ve forgotten over time.
Of course, it could be something that happened off-page. Diana Gabaldon does have a bad habit of having conversations off-page, if I’m honest.
Breaking down The Space Between Section 16
The section picks up with Michael leaving Joanie at the convent. He wonders if she is making the right decision, and I love this protective nature that he has over her. I just can’t tell why he is so protective of a woman he clearly doesn’t know all that well. He just thinks that Joan has time to really decide if being a nun is the right thing.
Something that surprised him was that Joan had a letter from Claire. He starts to think about his Auntie Claire and why Joan would have this letter. There is a lot that he doesn’t know or understand about his aunt.
All these thoughts make him think about the future that Claire had warned him about. There’s a darkness coming to Paris, and Michael needs to prepare for that. It looks like while he doesn’t understand it all, he does take her seriously, and he is thinking about what he can do.
We continue to see the mental state that he is in with the loss of his wife, though. He wants to tire his brain out without the use of wine, but it’s clearly not that easy. However, I do get a sense that he knows that drinking could become a crutch, and he doesn’t want that.
Could this section be used in a TV adaptation?
If The Space Between was every used, I’m in two minds about whether this section would even be used. It doesn’t add too much to the story, and it’s something that we’d already know from the TV series. We know that Claire told Michael about what’s to come to Paris.
It’s not like a lot of this would need to be skipped, but this section is all internalized. A show would need to find a way to make this a scene without us trying to infer and guess, so it would make more sense to skip over it.
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