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Orbital

Harvey, Samantha

$26.00

17 in stock

17 in stock

***BOOKER PRIZE WINNER 2024***
Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft contemplating the world below

Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft contemplating the world below

‘A slim, profound study of intimate human fears set against epic vistas’
GUARDIAN

‘Stunning… An uplifting book’
SUNDAY TIMES

A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.

Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction.

The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?

Format: Paperback
Pages: 144
Imprint: Vintage UK
Publication date: 03/09/2024

Staff review

Orbital
By Samantha Harvey
Review by Josh

The winner of the 2024 Booker Prize!

A contemplative and awe-inspiring novella on the wonder and profundity of space travel. Set on the International Space Station, this book tells the story of six astronauts and their experiences as they orbit the earth. With 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets in 24 hours, the daily orbit of an ISS astronaut is as bizarre as it is inspiring. It’s this interplay of ineffability and enlightenment that Orbital gracefully explores.

The book focuses less on heavy plot beats and more on the quiet moments of space exploration. The floating around in your sleeping bag dreaming of earth, the daily analysis of a typhoon as seen from orbit, the experience of seeing your home, and the home of all life from a wholly new perspective. It’s these moments that are less common in books on space, not the science and grandness of what we as a species are accomplishing but the more subtle effects on the human psyche, how such an experience alters one's perception of life on our planet. A remarkable book. Moving, fascinating, thought-provoking and short enough you’ll want to read it again the moment you finish.

For fans of nature writing, Anne Carson’s poetic prose, This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, and Audition by Pip Adam.

ISBN: 9781529922936 Categories: , Tag