The Time In Between: A Novel

2006 Morning News Tournament of Books Nominee

Luminous, haunting, profound, David Bergen's page-turning novel about one family and the effects of war will be his breakout book.

In search of love, absolution, or forgiveness, Charles Boatman leaves B.C. and returns mysteriously to the country where he fought twenty-eight years earlier as a young, reluctant soldier. But his new encounters seem irreconcilable with his memories.

When their father disappears, Ada and her brother, Jon, travel to Danang, Vietnam, to find him. Their quest takes them into the heart of a world that is at once incomprehensible, impassive, and beautiful. Chasing her father's shadow for weeks, following slim leads, Ada feels increasingly hopeless. Yet while Jon slips into the urban nightlife to avoid what he most fears, Ada soon grows closer than ever to her missing father — and strong enough to forgive him and to bear the truth of his long-kept secret.

Bergen's marvellously drawn characters include Lieutenant Dat, the police officer who tries to seduce Ada by withholding information; Elaine Gouds, the troubled wife of a self-styled American missionary who lives within the expatriate community in Danang; the boy Yen, who follows Ada and claims to be her guide; and Hoang Vu, the artist and philosopher who will teach Ada about the complexity of love and betrayal.

Moving between father and daughter, the present and the past, The Time In Between is a spellbinding, unforgettable novel about one family, two cultures, and a profound journey in search of elusive answers.

"Ada Boatman and her father, Charles, cross borders in Canadian author Bergen's luminous fourth novel. As their surname suggests, the in-between approximates the watery space between life and death. The narrative alternates between Ada's and Charles's points of view, between their separate experiences in contemporary Vietnam and their past together in the Pacific Northwest. Charles, an isolated American Vietnam veteran turned Canadian woodsman, raises his three children — Ada, Jon and Del — in British Columbia after their mother's death. As they scatter into adulthood, Charles retreats further into the memories (especially the terror of a single day of combat) that keep him at arm's length from life. When a fellow veteran sends Charles a novel written by a Vietnamese soldier, the story moves Charles to revisit Vietnam. There, he attempts to peel back the dark shroud of memory, but he cannot make peace and disappears instead. Ada and Jon follow their father to Danang, where they confront his past, and where Ada, whose life has been defined by her father's long sadness, learns to forsake her unmoored existence in favor of inner reconciliation. In this meditation on the aftereffects of violence and failed human connection, Bergen's austere prose illustrates the arbitrary nature of life's defining moments." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"A beautifully composed, unflinching and harrowing story. Perhaps the best fiction yet to confront and comprehend the legacy of Vietnam." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"With his thoughtful dialogue, Bergen makes the characters' heartache seep off the page." Time

"This powerful novel...is a beautifully crafted meditation on the frustrating search for emotional clarity....This slow, simmering novel will mesmerize readers with the intensity of its vision." Booklist

"[Bergen] preserves the exquisiteness of the Vietnamese culture, lending a unique beauty to the story. Highly recommended." Library Journal

"A sparse and moving meditation on the burden of war across generations, Canadian author David Bergen's The Time in Between weaves together all of these journeys to Vietnam into a rich and rewarding novel." San Francisco Chronicle

"The characters in David Bergen's mopey novel...all suffer from obscure, hard-to-articulate emotional ailments....[It] would be more affecting if Bergen let us feel his characters' pain, not just hear about it. (Grade: C+)" Entertainment Weekly

"Written in a tightly controlled monotone that strives constantly for dramatic effect....Bergen's ability to dramatize trauma-induced disaffection is undeniable; whether readers will want to sink down that hole with his characters is less clear." Washington Post

"[A] quiet but affecting novel....The war hovers over the story — not haunting it, exactly, but adding a measure of melancholy and making itself felt, in Boatman's memory, with more and more intensity as the story moves along." Wall Street Journal

"[A]n elegant, perceptive eulogy for those traumatized by the war in Vietnam, with implications for the survivors of any war." Providence Journal

In search of love, absolution, or forgiveness, Charles Boatman leaves the Fraser Valley of British Columbia and returns mysteriously to Vietnam, the country where he fought twenty-nine years earlier as a young, reluctant soldier. But his new encounters seem irreconcilable with his memories.

When he disappears, his daughter Ada, and her brother, Jon, travel to Vietnam, to the streets of Danang and beyond, to search for him. Their quest takes them into the heart of a country that is at once incomprehensible, impassive, and beautiful. Chasing her father’s shadow for weeks, following slim leads, Ada feels increasingly hopeless. Yet while Jon slips into the urban nightlife to avoid what he most fears, Ada finds herself growing closer to her missing father — and strong enough to forgive him and bear the heartbreaking truth of his long-kept secret.

Bergen’s marvellously drawn characters include Lieutenant Dat, the police officer who tries to seduce Ada by withholding information; the boy Yen, an orphan, who follows Ada and claims to be her guide; Jack Gouds, an American expatriate and self-styled missionary; his strong-willed and unhappy wife, Elaine, whose desperate encounters with Charles in the days before his disappearance will always haunt her; and Hoang Vu, the artist and philosopher who will teach Ada about the complexity of love and betrayal. We also come to learn about the reclusive author Dang Tho, whose famous wartime novel pulls at Charles in ways he can’t explain.

Moving between father and daughter, the present and the past, The Time in Between is a luminous, unforgettable novel about one family, two cultures, and a profound emotional journey in search of elusive answers.

“Beautiful and timely…A sparse and moving meditation on the burden of war across generations.”

–San Francisco Chronicle

“Exquisite…With simple sentences, evocative images and subtle insights into elusive emotional states, the words don’t merely tell a story; they become poetry.”

–The Baltimore Sun

“This is a book of searching….Part war story…part expatriate novel, too, as if A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises had been rolled into one.”

–Chicago Tribune

“Brilliant…a literary triumph…As Kurt Vonnegut’s memorable “Slaughterhouse-Five” did so brilliantly with the impact of World War II, Bergen’s book lives and breathes the Vietnam experience.”

–Deseret Morning News (Best Books of 2005)

Best Books of 2005

–St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Intense…haunting…a profound meditation on human disconnection.”

–Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Spellbinding.”

–The Sunday Oklahoman

“Bergen is a master of understatement.…[his] elegantly crafted denouement is devastating and powerful, a testament to a writer who senses that some things–passion, violence–can be understood only by traveling outside one's comfort zone and traversing the far edges of reason.”

–San Diego Union-Tribune

“A beautifully composed, unflinching and harrowing story. Perhaps the best fiction yet to confront and comprehend the legacy of Vietnam.”

–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Affecting…delicate…At the end of this lovely novel, it is Ada and her siblings who are left searching, and the reader along with them.”

–The Wall Street Journal

“The Vietnam War has been the inspiration for scores of novels, but Bergen’s fifth book is one of the most moving we’ve encountered.”

–Sacramento Bee

“A beautifully crafted meditation on the frustrating search for emotional clarity….[This] simmering novel will mesmerize readers with the intensity of its vision.”

–Booklist

“Haunting and dreamlike…The author writes with a certain delicacy of description…[that] preserves the exquisiteness of the Vietnamese culture, lending a unique beauty to the story. Highly recommended.”

–Library Journal

“Luminous…In this meditation on the aftereffects of violence and failed human connection, Bergen’s austere prose illustrates the arbitrary nature of life’s defining moments.”

–Publishers Weekly

David Bergen is the author of three highly acclaimed novels: A Year of Lesser, a New York Times Notable Book; See the Child; and, most recently, The Case of Lena S., winner of the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, and a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Fiction. He lives in Winnipeg.