About the Book

Lyrical and introspective, Orbital, by Samantha Harvey, touches on the lives of six astronauts and cosmonauts circling Earth in the International Space Station. As they travel together through one day—16 sunrises and 16 sunsets—far above Earth, separated from and yet still connected to the planet and relationships they left behind, Harvey balances the often mundane tasks of daily life and staying alive aboard the spacecraft with the beauty and fragility of their home below. Winner of the 2024 Booker Prize, Orbital explores themes of nostalgia, memory, time, environmental consciousness, human connection, scientific progress, grief, alienation, and hope.

Samantha Harvey

Named “one of the UK’s most exquisite stylists” by the Guardian, Samantha Harvey is the award-winning author of six books. She was born in Kent and lives in Bath, United Kingdom, where she is a Reader in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. She is the first woman to win the Booker Prize since 2019. Learn more about the author.

Images courtesy of the author