The Space Ace of Mangleby Flat: Larre Bildeston on Identity, Friendship and Family Secrets

Published: 10 December 2023 (print) / 7 June 2024 (audio)
Publisher: Independently Published
Length: 519 pages / 12 hrs and 53 mins
Audiobook narrator: Larre Bildeston
Genre: Fiction
Review rating: 4 stars

Larre Bildeston’s The Space Ace of Mangleby Flat finds its emotional center in the slow work of letting other people close. Sam Dennon has money, a respected architecture practice and a home he designed himself. Yet after his uncle dies, anxiety and night terrors begin to press in, while the amateur astronomy that once mattered to him has lost its pull. His marriage ended years ago, quietly and painfully, and Sam has come to believe that something in him is beyond repair.

His response is practical, if modest: he sets himself a Personal Happiness Project. First, he’ll get a dog; then, he’ll try to find one friend, “not too intense.” The adopted poodle-cross becomes an early source of affection. Later, Sam begins to fall for Reina, a warm and self-assured trans woman he knows through his tennis club. Their connection grows gradually, shaped by Sam’s uncertainty and by his sense that Reina’s confidence and experience leave little common ground between them.

A life told in layers

The novel moves between Sam’s present and earlier periods, including his high school years and his twenties. Bildeston marks the shifts by year, giving readers a clear sense of when they are while allowing the past to gather meaning alongside the present. The result, in this reviewer’s view, is a story that can take its time. The opening is measured, but Sam’s daily life keeps unfolding, and the interest comes from watching how he understands himself and the people around him.

An unopened letter from Sam’s late uncle provides a thread of suspense. The family history it contains is painful, and its eventual revelations involve dark and uncomfortable subjects. Bildeston lets that knowledge emerge in stages. The mystery doesn’t crowd out Sam’s relationships or his efforts to build a happier life; it stays in the background until the story is ready to bring it forward. Readers may want to know in advance that the book handles difficult and taboo family material.

Sam’s account of his own thinking is a particular strength for this reviewer. He tries to explain his feelings, asks questions and makes assumptions when he lacks information. Those assumptions can be misguided, but the narrative shows how they form, making his uncertainty part of the character rather than a device to keep readers waiting. The book also leaves room for readers to interpret him differently: this reviewer sees Sam as possibly aromantic as well as asexual, though the novel doesn’t use that description.

Queer lives and places closer to home

Bildeston’s novel offers a view of early 1990s Australia, as well as a strong sense of Wellington as Sam’s new home. For this reviewer, its Australian and Aotearoan setting was an unexpected pleasure: LGBTQIA stories from Oceania can be harder to come across, and the familiar geography made this one feel especially welcome. The settings are part of the book’s texture, grounding Sam’s search for connection in specific times and places.

Reina brings a different kind of certainty to the story. She is openly queer and established in her sense of self, while Sam is still trying to find language for his feelings. At times, she explains terminology and identity to him, and the reviewer acknowledges that this can feel like a lot of information at once. Still, Reina has her own character and point of view; the exchanges also reflect the gap between what Sam knows and what he is trying to understand.

The book doesn’t claim to represent every LGBTQIA experience, and the reviewer’s response is personal rather than a universal measure. What works here is the attention to difference: no single character stands in for a whole community, and Sam’s growth doesn’t require everyone around him to fit one role. His old friends and former wife feel like people with histories of their own. Their comments can sting, even when they come from what they believe is good intent, and those tensions give the relationships a lived-in quality.

A gradual, generous recommendation

Across the novel, grief, friendship, romance, identity and the uncle’s hidden history each have room to matter. The reviewer praises that balance: one strand doesn’t swallow the others, and Sam’s small goals remain meaningful even as the larger family questions come into focus. The steady pace suits a character whose understanding develops by degrees. Bildeston’s prose felt natural and comfortable to this reviewer, who found the audiobook engaging through its 12 hours and 53 minutes.

The Space Ace of Mangleby Flat is likely to suit readers looking for character-led fiction about self-discovery, queer relationships and the imperfect process of making friends as an adult. It offers a hopeful arc without asking Sam’s anxieties or the family pain to disappear overnight. Readers drawn to stories where affection arrives slowly, and where the past complicates but doesn’t define a person’s future, may find this a rewarding companion.

The print edition was published on 10 December 2023, with the audiobook following on 7 June 2024. The audiobook is narrated by Bildeston.

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