Orbital by Samantha Harvey is one of the most talked-about recent releases readers keep adding to their lists and it is easy to see why: six astronauts, sixteen sunrises, one day circling the Earth.
What it's about
Samantha Harvey's slim, radiant novel follows six astronauts aboard a space station through a single day of sixteen orbits, using their god's-eye view of the planet to meditate on beauty, fragility and what it means to be alive on this one blue world. It is less plot than prayer and utterly transporting.
Why everyone's talking about it
Orbital won the Booker Prize and became a surprise bestseller, praised as a gorgeous, contemplative act of attention. Its win made it one of the most-discussed literary novels of its moment.
The verdict, for now
If you want a short book that leaves you awed, look up. Come for the view from orbit, stay for prose that makes the ordinary Earth feel miraculous.
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