Space hopper Helen Fisher

I’m sure I reviewed this one at the beginning of the year, but NetGalley is telling me otherwise.

Great

I was unable to give feedback on this title as it disappeared off my netgalley app due to an error so it wasn’t my fault I couldn’t give feedback.

A box from the past.
This was a fun listen, if a little unbelievable. The sentiment was very appealing though; who wouldn't love to travel back in time to spend a little more time with loved ones who have passed on.

Faye's mother died when she was still a child, leaving a gap in her life that has never healed. Now that she has children of her own she is even more aware of how much she would love to share them with her missing mother..
Then the impossible happens and Faye finds herself back in her childhood home.

I don't want to give away any more than the synopsis so I will let you fill in the gaps. This is a lighthearted novel, that made me think back to my own childhood and how much I really knew about my own mother.
Sophie Roberts makes a good job of the narration with a clear voice and slightly childish tone that perfectly suits the story.

An easy and engaging listen, narrated by Sophie Roberts who paced the story well and enabled a good connection with the characters. I enjoyed the 1970s references and the exploration of grief, memories and relationships although found it hard to connect with the time travel aspect of the novel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital audiobook

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Audio UK for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Space Hopper was such a welcome surprise for me. When I started this book, the first couple of chapters were slow and I started to panic that I wasn't going to enjoy this book, but I'm so incredibly glad that I persevered as the book picks up the pace very quickly once the 'extraordinary turn of events' begins to unfold. (Trying to keep this spoiler-free so you're not getting any hints at the events.)

This book honestly made me feel so many emotions, I laughed, I teared up and my heart just felt so big whilst reading this book, I can't even begin to articulate my full feelings on this book and I'm so glad that I was given the opportunity to pick up this book. I'm definitely interested to see what Helen Fisher writes in the future as this was an incredible debut. At the end of this book I just couldn't stop smiling and I'm still smiling now just thinking about it.

In first hearing about this book via the 2021 Blogger showcase my interest was piqued, although sadly I didn’t get around to this one before publication day. This is my first Netgalley audiobook and the narration is fantastic and such an easy listen. As soon as I started listening I’d already devoured a few chapters really quickly. I was left eagerly wanting to get back to the story and to learn more about Faye.

Once you start reading/listening to this intriguing novel it’s hard to stop. I found myself listening for longer and thinking about it whilst doing other things. Which meant I had to go back and binge more – which was why this was finished very quickly. I just needed to know.

Faye is an interesting leading character and from the off it’s apparent the loss of her mother at a young age has impacted her greatly. As a child she never really grieved properly as her memories of her mother are slight. She was well looked after and loved but there has always been a hole in her life.

Happily married with two adoring daughters – Faye in some aspects has moved on and made a life for herself and her family.

In a twist of fate an old photo and a box full of nostalgia changes her life in extraordinary ways. The magic of this novel is spellbinding from start to finish. At first you’re sat wondering how Faye sees her mother in the flesh and when the drama unfolds I was left simply transfixed.

The scenes between Faye and Genie were eye opening and it made me think about loved ones that I have lost. Often a book, a film a piece of music or a smell can take you back in time.

I’m an 80s baby but there were a number of nostalgic moments for me also especially with the mention of Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree and that of the Deloran from one of my most favourite films in Back to the Future.

A gorgeously poignant novel of love, loss and that of family. The essence of faith in many ways is apparent and even though there are a number of hard to hear topics these are covered graciously.

A stunning debut I look forward to what Helen writes next, her imagination has had me hooked from start to finish. The perfect escapism during these trying times.

I really enjoyed this. It was an interesting story and very well narrated. I am a big fan of time travel tv shows and films, but have only read a few books that are like this. I thought the way she travelled back was unusual & I think making the trip painful was a good touch. Why wouldn't something that traumatic hurt? Although I was born in 1980 & the book travels back to the 70s, I still remember Space hoppers & I loved my roller boots. A really enjoyable read/listen.

What an interesting book! I really enjoyed this as an audio book. The narrator Sophie Roberts did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life.

I have to say, I was completely drawn to this book from the cover alone. The bright colours, it’s fun and the throwback to yesteryears with the roller skates; a reminder of my childhood favs and I knew I was going to enjoy the book because of it.

Whilst I knew it was a time travel book I struggled to settle into it however the story soon caught me and I just had to know how it all panned out. What was really interesting was the themes covered in the story itself: grief, nostalgia, love and faith. The way in which the author explored what it means to have faith, to believe in the unseen and how different people interpret it was very well done this I enjoyed the most about the book along with the friendship between Faye and Louis.

This friendship was delightful to read about. It's the first time I have read a book with a blind character in and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about his life experiences. I appreciated the awareness of blindness this book gave me.

Thank you to Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Audio for giving me a copy of an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Helen Fisher and SImon & Schuster Audio UK for the free review copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Holy fifth wall, I forget you exist until a character talks straight to me, judging my judgements. Telling me how to talk to my partner about slipping out of the house for a tiny bit of time travel…

‘I’ve been visiting my mother who died when I was eight.
And I’m talking about flesh and blood, tea-and-biscuits-on-the-table visiting here.

Right now, you probably think I’m going mad.
Let me explain…’

Have you ever wanted to go back in time and change things? Of course, most of us consider it but the main character Faye actually achieves it when she slips back in time and has a good ole natter with her family back in the 1970’s. Despite its science fiction plot, it definitely falls more within the literary women’s fiction, mothering diary type trope.

It’s cute in an unconventional way but the pacing and story is a bit off. The narrator does a wonderful job and the story initially drew me in but later the story fell into the mundane details and leaned into them, heavily. I guess it’s one of those stories that satisfies the question ‘what if I could go back’ but after a while, I just realised I was spending a lot of time listening to a story that could have ended at any point and I wouldn’t be able to tell you what I’d spent hours listening to after the initial hook.

My thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio U.K. for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘Space Hopper’ by Helen Fisher. It is narrated by Sophie Roberts and has a running time of 8 hours, 58 minutes at 1x speed.

“They say those we love never truly leave us, and I’ve found that to be true. But not in the way you might expect. In fact, none of this is what you’d expect. ... I’ve been visiting my mother who died when I was eight. And I’m talking about flesh and blood, tea-and-biscuits-on-the-table visiting here.”

I began reading this novel with little foreknowledge of its whimsical plot. Faye has a happy life with husband Eddie, who is training to enter the clergy, and their two daughters. Yet she has always deeply felt the loss of her mother.

One day while storing the Space Hopper box that she had preserved from her childhood, she steps into it and whoosh.....after an Alice in Wonderland-like descent she is back in her living room under the Christmas tree in 1977, some thirty years previously. She manages to avoid being caught, though later engineers a meeting with her mother and younger self. I won’t say more in order to avoid spoilers, but the narrative takes a number of interesting turns.

Helen Fisher’s debut was beautifully written and sensitively addressed a range of issues including aspects of faith, both personal and spiritual, love, grief and loss as well as various time travel theories. In addition, Faye works for the R.N.I.B., the British charity that assists the blind and partially sighted, and through this and Louis, Faye’s friend who has been blind since birth, she explores issues linked to blindness and ableism.

With respect to the audiobook, Sophie Roberts is a voice actor with a wide range of audiobooks to her credit. Her voice was warm and clear, which was a pleasure to listen to. She effortlessly embodied Faye, conveying the wide range of emotions that she experiences in the course of the narrative. Fisher has Faye addressing an unknown third person, which works especially well with its audiobook format.

This is an extraordinary novel that provides a great deal of scope for discussion making it an excellent choice for reading groups that are looking for something different.

A charming and quirky storyline.

Faye finds a photograph of herself at a very young age. She’s sitting in a Space Hopper box. The box has travelled with Faye everywhere she’s been since she was a child and knew her entire history. When she takes the box up to the attic to put it out of reach from her two young daughters, who would love to cut it up, she accidentally breaks some glass and as she’s barefoot, decides to stand in the box until her husband, Eddie, can rescue her from cutting her feet. Except that isn’t what happens, Faye suddenly finds herself back in the 1970s standing in front of her mother and younger self.

Faye’s disappointment has always been that her mother died when she was young. She died under mysterious circumstances. The couple who adopted her after the event never discussed the event, and Faye feels a massive hole inside her. Travelling back in time – thanks to the Space Hopper box – means that she can find out more about her mother and spend more time with her. However, there is one huge problem – she can’t tell Eddie about her experience. She’s terrified he will react badly to her news.

Seldom have I listened to such a beautiful story. The narrator, Sophie Roberts, captures every tiny detail and keeps you the listener enraptured with Faye’s discovery that she can time-travel to visit her mother.

The ending……..I’d love to discuss the ending with someone who read the book. It’s pure magic and well worth travelling with Faye just to reach it. A genuinely perfect book. Thank you to Helen Fisher for writing it and Sophie Roberts for narrating the story.

Rony

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

I really loved this story! It’s unique, nostalgic and heartwarming. I would highly recommend looking out for this one when it comes out (the audiobook is fantastic!).

In terms of the audiobook, specifically. The narration was absolutely fabulous. The reader was paced well, spoke clearly etc. I loved the extra details like the phone conversations sounding distorted (like they were described in the story) etc. too!

I never had a space hopper (or skippyball as some might call it) myself when I was young but I do remember going to a certain birthday party in the late ’80s where every child was crazy to try it out, including me. It brings back memories and Space Hopper is all about revisiting the past and finding an answer to that burning question: would you go back in time if you had the chance? Maybe you better think twice before you say yes.

The novel should have been slightly out of my comfort zone since it’s about time travel but I never had a strange or uncomfortable feeling about it. One of the reasons I did like it so much is probably because it had the feeling of a contemporary novel dealing with a mother/daughter relationship more then it was about time travel. It all felt quite natural and of course it helped that Faye, the person subjected to time travel, was quite skeptic about it herself. The process of travelling isn’t glossed over and it was never just accepted as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. The fact is that it really is a big deal and more painful then you think. There are a lot of questions to ask oneself about the safety but on the other hand, aren’t all the risks, the bruises and cuts along the way, worth it if you can see your dead mother again?

Faye lost her mother when she was 8. She doesn’t remember much about it or what her mother died of exactly. She ended up with the neighbours who she called Aunt Em and Uncle Henry and she had a great childhood but they didn’t talked much about her mother or what happened to her. Faye’s a mother herself now of two young daughters and she feels that hole in her heart is still there. She wants to know what happened and who her mother was. Then a miracle happens, she finds an old space hopper box and reenacting an old picture of herself where she’s posing in the box, she suddenly falls through it and ends up in the year 1977. She only ever saw her mother through the eyes of a child so she grabs this opportunity to get to know her mother as an adult, without revealing she’s her daughter coming from the future. I loved that warm feeling of friendship between Faye and her mother Jeannie but I was in conflict sooner than Faye was… what if she didn’t get back to the present, or if she couldn’t let go of her mother, and what if she inadvertedly altered the past, would that change her life in the present?

Space Hopper was a delightful whimsical and warm novel but it doesn’t shy away exploring also bigger topics at times like having faith and living a life without fear for what is coming. I adored Faye’s blind friend Louis and his blindness brought a great perspective to the story. Albeit in a totally different context (he speaks of a very colourful emerald egg that he displays at his house) he says at one moment that you don’t need to see a thing to know it’s true.

The rollerskates that are displayed on the cover also are a wonderful reference in the story. In fact, I enjoyed many many different little scenes that played out. The ending of the novel was very touching, it wasn’t entirely unpredictable but it still gave me a sense of exhilaration (ok and a tiny bit of horror) to see how it played out in the end.

Finally, I loved the narration of this audiobook and Sophie Roberts is the best narrator I ever listened to so far, she really brings the story to life!

Space Hopper is a book about grief, childhood and faith, which the main character Faye explores as she time travels to the 70s where her mother is still alive. It sounds like an interesting premise but unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. The story was hard to get into up until about 80% of the way through, and it was hard to pick up after I put it down. You'd think a time travel story would be more exciting, but it's more focused on Faye's relationship with her mother and dealing with her grief and memories of her. I wouldn't mind that but it didn't emotionally impact me at all, probably because of the characters.
The first person perspective and Faye directly talking to the reader didn't work for me, and the other characters felt underdeveloped. Her husband Eddie's actions didn't align with her description of him and he just acted inconsistently. The theme of religion didn't fit with the rest of the story to me. Although it still could have been interesting, no substantial conclusion was reached with it and Faye didn't seem to grow as a person at all.
I think this could work for the right reader but it left me feeling underwhelmed and unsatisfied.

I really enjoyed this audiobook! A rather different take on time travel with an unexpected ending.
This book was well written, covering loss, grief, regrets, love in detail. I found it interesting to see how the main character dealt with her situation and made decisions about what to do. The writing style is not my usual type of book - I think this is quite 'wordy' and detailed in areas that didn't really need much detail. But the overall effect was good.

I was really excited for this book as I read the early preview chapter and the writing was so fluid and the premise sounded intriguing.

I really liked the idea of going back in time to see someone you didn’t get to know growing up and I liked that she had a friend and husband who believed in her as a lot of the time in these stories you get the characters who don’t.

Unfortunately I felt that the story fell a little flat and struggle to want to come back to it, the ending was nice but predictable.

Faye loves her family but she keenly misses her mother who passed when she was 8-yo. How much would you give up to spend time with a missed loved one?

I have a few words to describe this book succinctly. As someone who is incredibly close with their mum, I can imagine Faye’s desperation just to spend a few additional moments with her. I found Helen Fisher’s plot premise so utterly intriguing and compelling that I devoured this novel. Space Hopper teetered the line of whimsical nostalgia and ridiculous-ness but never ever crosses it.

Sophie Roberts does a fantastic job as narrator. Compelling and engaging, she brings the novel to life.

I absolutely adored this audiobook and will be recommending it to my friends once it’s released.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Audio for giving me a copy of an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Full disclosure: I selected this book purely for the roller skates on the cover. The jacket design here is eye-catching, fun, and a wonderful indicator of the nostalgic story to come. I really enjoyed this. It's a relaxing, easy listen. The narrator has a wonderfully light tone, and really nails the varied characters that cross generations. How would we view our lives if we could go back, even momentarily, to experience what came before? Would we change things? Would we want to? With its fun use of a space hopper toy as its means of travel, this is a simple, curious look at who we are and where we're going.

This was different to my usual read
but I'm so glad I listened to it as it was so good. A great story and excellent narrator.

Thank you Netgalley for an audio copy of this novel. It did take me quite a while to get into Space Hopper and I do wonder if it would have flowed better if I had read a copy rather than lots of short sittings with the audio. There were parts of the story I found quite gripping, though overall I found it a little far fetched (which isn’t always a bad thing) and didn’t really connect with the characters. 3 stars.