BETWEEN

by Elizabeth Mason

Reese Connelly was murdered at sixteen. She, along with Marcus, a computer programmer; Kim, a stone mason; Teresa, a housewife; Walter, a truck driver; and Jilly, a child; and a handful of others, are trapped in the cemetery in which they were laid. When a road project forces the unearthing of a handful of graves they discover a child’s skeleton mislaid in the ditch, and the mystery of Jilly, a child too young to have words, begins to unfold. The residents of the cemetery, unable to cross over, are a restless lot. Forced into interacting with people they would never have spent time with in life, they pick at each others' wounds, digging at their personal failures and closely guarded secrets.

Meanwhile, among the living, Eva Bontrager is recovering from a brain hemorrhage she suffered in a riding accident. She remembers nothing of her sixteen years prior to waking up in the hospital. Handed a second chance with their daughter, the Bontragers are so overwhelmed with gratitude that they are willing to accept that Eva is now different—perhaps even someone entirely different than their daughter.

The two stories are woven together—back and forth between the living and the dead—as they unfold, seemingly independent of each other. Or are they? Between is a haunting little ghost story that will make you think differently the next time you visit a cemetery. It is a story of relationships and finding personal redemption.

187 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 26, 2013

Reviews

[ABCme · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly amazing account of human behaviour and compassion.
There's a group of souls hanging around in the cemetery, unable to cross over. They don't have clear visuals, just greys, but they can hear each other's thoughts. They have long conversations and confessions, getting to know each other and figuring out why they're still here. Beautiful character building, you really become one with this group.
In the meantime, 16 year old Eva awakes from a coma and goes back to living with her family. She has no recollection of her former life and seems a new person herself, doing things she never did and using language she never used before. Even her once favorite horse doesn't recognize her anymore.
These two stories run parallel until the very last page, where they end with a twist.
Wonderfully crafted pageturner!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story and the way it was told. I would have liked it more without the few explicit moments... they weren't needed and didn't add anything to the story.