Jean Reynolds Page is captivating in her tangled tale of family, love and complicated pasts in the novel, “”The Space Between Before and After.”” And she tells the story in that exact order – before and after. Page keeps you guessing with her cryptic writing, telling only parts of the problematic Templeton family history, while layering on the family’s current troubles.

Page is quick to divulge Holli Templeton’s dilemma: her son, Conner, is a college dropout who lives with his sick and pregnant girlfriend at Holli’s grandmother Raine’s home. Raine’s age is getting the best of her, and as Holli’s troubling circumstances mount, the reader impatiently waits for each random glimpse Page gives into Holli’s wounded childhood.

As Holli deals with her many tribulations, she heals the pain her childhood left many decades ago. Page’s writing is fascinating in this sometimes heart-wrenching tale, and she offers hope for the family’s future, even after the last page.