Celestial Lights with Cecile Pin
Tue 31 Mar 2026
7:00pm at Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, 14-15 John St, Bath, BA1 2JL
All tickets include 15% off any books purchased on the night, a glass of wine or soft drink, author talk, Q&A and signing.
Other ways to book:
Email books@mrbsemporium.com, call 01225 331155 or pop into the shop at 14-15 John Street, Bath. BA1 2JL.
‘”A thoughtful and beautifully compelling exploration of human ambition” – Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam
The author of Women’s Prize longlisted and Mr B’s team fave Wandering Souls joins us to discuss her new novel, Celestial Lights.
Both stunningly beautiful and heartbreaking, Celestial Lights follows a famous astronaut reflecting on his life, from childhood to becoming a husband and a father, during a ten-year mission to a distant moon. Will the world he remembers be there when he returns? A breathtaking story of love, and sacrifice that questions what we owe ourselves and our loved ones, when our ambitions and loyalties collide.
Can’t make it to the event? Order a signed & dedicated copy here.
About the book:
January 28, 1986: moments after launch, the Challenger shuttle falls from the sky. At the same time, in a small English village, Oliver Ines is born.
Ollie spends his childhood in a bedroom covered in glow-in-the-dark wallpaper, bearing the planets and stars. Decades later, he has become one of the most renowned astronauts of his time. When an enterprising billionaire approaches him to lead a landmark, ten-year mission to the distant moon, Europa, Ollie cannot resist the call of history.
As the mission advances deeper into uncharted territory, Ollie finds himself retreating into the past: his school days and years in the navy, relationships found and lost, becoming a husband and father. But will the world he remembers still be waiting for him when he returns?
“A masterful meditation on ambition and the vanity of legacy. Celestial Lights melds sharp insight with great heart” – Nicola Dinan, author of Disappoint Me
About the author: Cecile Pin is a London-based writer. Her debut novel Wandering Souls was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Prix Femina Etranger, and shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. She has won the Fragonard Prize for Foreign Literature, a Somerset Maugham Award, and a London Writers’ Award. In 2025, she was selected as one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Europe.