Charles Boatman, an army veteran suddenly disappears and his daughter Ada and her younger brother Jon on finding some clues go looking out for him in Danang, Vietnam.

On the other hand, Ada is on a mission to find her father and is helped by a local guy Yen who becomes her guide and guardian in the new country.

[1] Nicholas Dinka in their Quill & Quire review mentions that the novel has "much decency and intelligence" and both the stories of the novel are "entirely plausible" but criticises for "remarkable dourness of its prose".

[7] The novel won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2005 while being nominated along with Luck (by Joan Barfoot), Sweetness in the Belly (by Camilla Gibb), Alligator (by Lisa Moore), and A Wall of Light (by Edeet Ravel).

The judges Warren Cariou, Elizabeth Hay, and Richard B. Wright noted "The Time in Between explores our need to understand the relationship between love and duty....[] This is a subtle and elegantly written novel by an author in complete command of his talent".