Description

‘Stunning… An uplifting book’ SUNDAY TIMES

Life on our planet as you’ve never seen it before: in this spellbinding and uplifting novel six astronauts rotate in the International Space Station. They are there to do vital work, but slowly they begin to wonder: what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?

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.

‘A slim, profound study of intimate human fears set against epic vistas’ GUARDIAN

***A GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN AND DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023***

Publisher Review

A slim, profound study of intimate human fears set against epic vistas of swirling weather patterns and rolling continents * Guardian, *Autumn Picks of 2023* * One of the most beautiful novels I have read in a very long time — Mark Haddon, author of The Porpoise I admire Orbital even more than the rest of Harvey’s work… I don’t think I’ve read anything else with such love for its characters and such clarity about the state of the planet, and I was deeply grateful for the novel’s refusal of despair or cynicism — Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater This is such a beautiful book you have to adjust your readerly heart to take it all in… It is an awe-inspiring and humbling love letter to Earth and those who reckon with the gift of it — Max Porter, author of Shy Six astronauts on a space station are working, sleeping, and watching the world go by. They think about typhoons, algal blooms, seascapes, cities at night, Velazquez, frog calls, fried eggs, family. Orbital is a lush description of the gorgeous earth, and a broad-minded, level-headed, affectionate take on what goes on down here — Daisy Hildyard, author of Emergency A gorgeous song of praise from on high, a hymn sung in starlight to celebrate mankind’s courage and endeavour — Mike McCormack, author of Solar Bones Orbital is a magnificent, thunderous work and yet so brief, so fleeting. It is an elegy to planet Earth in all its splendour and fragility. Exquisitely well-written, it confirms Samantha Harvey as a singular talent — Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall A fascinating glimpse inside a home so few will ever see. Her lyrical prose skillfully contrasts the technicalities of space travel with the ever-present inspiration of the gleaming planet below… This slim novel is so much more than the sum of its parts. Luminous and profound, Orbital is hard to put down and even harder to forget * Booklist * Lovely lyrical prose… This gorgeous meditation leaves readers feeling as if they’re floating in the same “dark unswimmable sea” * Publishers Weekly, *STARRED REVIEW* * One of the UK’s most exquisite stylists * Guardian * This generation’s Virginia Woolf * Telegraph *