We are her world and her universe and her space and her sky and her galaxy and her cosmos too.

The Space We’re In is about two brothers: Max, who is autistic, and Frank, who is not. Frank is ten. He likes cottage pie and football and cracking codes. Max is five. He only eats Quavers and some colours are too bright for him and if he has to wear a new T-shirt he melts down down down. Max is loud and fast and kind and quick and loving and stubborn and clever and annoying. Above all he is Max and he is fierce¬ly loved. Frank is gentle and quiet and sensitive and bright and thoughtful. He may not have the brother he expected, but he has his brother.

It is a story about siblings, about finding our space in the universe, about grief, and most of all it is about love. Frank and Max have a complex relationship, like any siblings. They both face challenges – some of these challenges are the same, and some of them are very different. Their own differences can create friction, but it is learning to sit in each other’s worlds that allows their relationship to bloom. When tragedy hits Frank and Max’s lives like a comet, what will it take for Frank to piece together a universe in which he and Max aren’t light years apart?

The Space We’re In is a jaw-dropping, heart-breaking and hopeful novel from exciting new talent Katya Balen – with stunning black and white illustrations by Laura Carlin – perfect for fans of David Almond, Lisa Thompson and R.J. Palacio.

Katya Balen is a breathtakingly talented debut author. Her work with neurodivergent children and adults enables her to write Frank and Max’s story with perceptive depth and a respect for both boys’ experiences, while her consummate skill as a writer allows her to deliver these things with a light touch.

This is a book that will make you cry. It will make you laugh. And it will change you. Because just as the tangle of hardship and hope that is childhood breaks and remakes us again and again, so this wonderful book takes us apart and lets us build ourselves anew – a little wiser, a little more loving, a little different.