THE SPACE BETWEEN THE STARS by Indira Naidoo

The Space Between The Stars is a beautiful book written by Australian journalist Indira Naidoo. It is a look at the ways nature can help us to heal after extraordinary grief.

🛑 Trigger warning: this review discusses mental health and suicide. Readers who may be negatively impacted might want to skip this review.

The Space Between The Stars is a beautiful book written by Australian journalist Indira Naidoo. It is a look at the ways nature can help us to heal after extraordinary grief.

Naidoo tragically lost her sister to suicide during the first COVID lockdowns in 2020, after a long battle with mental health issues. Malika, called Stargirl by her sister, was a successful writer and communications specialist in her own right, but she fought demons of varying kinds throughout her life. The story is truly devastating, particularly given that the three Naidoo sisters are very close in age and grew up with very tight bonds between them.

Hampered by the lockdowns, Indira’s ability to grieve was limited in the amount of time she could spend with her family in Melbourne (she lives in Sydney) and her ability to leave her apartment. Indira took solace in walking around her local neighbourhood, which includes parklands next to the Sydney Harbour. At an early stage, she finds a tree in the park that she finds particularly soothing and where she can feel comforted in a way she needs. She returns to the tree regularly.

Interspersed with recollections from their childhood, spent in various parts of the world, Naidoo talks about the circumstances leading to and immediately after her sister’s death. It is gripping, heartbreaking reading. She ponders the change in the relationship with her surviving sister, whom she calls Dreamcatcher, given that the three sisters were so close and considers how they go from three to two.

Linking in to these stories, Naidoo also begins to really examine the natural world around her and engages assistance from experts to help her navigate these activities; they include astronomy, trees and even the ants found in Australia. A beautiful chapter has Naidoo in the park with her young granddaughter, flying kites. The nostalgia factor was high in some of these stories but just as comforting for the reader as, I’m sure, it was for Naidoo herself.

The Space Between The Stars is a gorgeous book, filled equally with joy and heartbreak. Naidoo’s writing is compelling (as you’d expect from a journalist of her experience). While some of the content is confronting, it is also deeply important to hold space for grief, both of others and ourselves, and be brave in addressing the topic of suicide - if we don’t talk about it, it remains a taboo topic, shrouded in secrecy and shame, which it shouldn’t be.

A beautiful book worth reading.