Orbital defies all the boundaries of specific genres and spans a varied and beautiful mix, incorporating science fiction, literary fiction and philosophy. One day, it will probably fall into the ‘Classic’ category too! It’s a short novel which opens up many more possibilities for those who are daunted by Booker Prize Winners but keen to read them. At 136 pages, it’s only four ahead of the shortest novel to win a Booker. Small, but mighty.
The size of this book is key to the messaging within it. Slow down. Look at things from a different point of view. Reflect. It is not plot or character driven. There are no suspenseful moments lurking around the corner. It’s simply a day in the life of four international astronauts and two cosmonauts, circling Earth from the International Space Station. The book is calm, slow-paced and almost induces the feeling of floating in space. We often seek books that transport us to the locations mentioned and Orbital does just that.
Seeing the world without the noise of being in it clouding everything, is perhaps the most poignant of messages. Six astronauts look down on a world that contains absolutely everything, except themselves. Wow.
About the Book
Life on our planet as you’ve never seen it before.
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?
About The Author
Samantha Harvey is the author of five novels, Orbital, The Western Wind, Dear Thief, All Is Song, and The Wilderness, which won the Betty Trask Prize, and one work of nonfiction, The Shapeless Unease. Her books have been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Guardian First Book Award, and the James Tait Black Prize, as well as longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Baileys Women’s Prize. She lives in Bath, UK, and teaches creative writing at Bath Spa University.
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This book can be purchased in our store either on its own or in a cosy Book Box.
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