Orbital by Samantha Harvey

 

Six astronauts are on one of the last space station missions, circling the Earth and studying it.  There are women and men and they come from Italy, America, Japan, Russia and Britain.  The reader rides with them for sixteen sunrises and sunsets as they circle the Earth.  A huge typhoon is occurring on the surface and as they make their revolutions, they can track its progress.

The reader sees the routine of their daily life on board.  They exercise, eat prepackaged food, perform maintenance tasks, sleep.  They form friendships with those aboard and worry about those they have left behind.  They are in awe as they watch the beauty of the universe and view another mission that is traveling further than they are.  They long for home and the end of their mission while also not wanting it to be over.

This novel was the 2024 Booker winner.  I've been on a Samantha Harvey reading journey lately and she is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors.  Her forte is description, taking the reader immediately into the locations she writes about and this novel is no different.  One can imagine the wonder and the fear of being an astronaut and worry about the future of the planet as they do.  She wrote this novel during the Covid shutdown while she was confined to her home as the astronauts are confined to their ship.  This novel is recommended for literary fiction readeres.