Samantha Harvey asks a question. What will Jake be able salvage from the wreckage of his mind: beauty, perhaps, the memory of love, or nothing at all?
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.
Orbital was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024.
Samantha Harvey
About the Author
Samantha Harvey lives in the UK and is a tutor on the MA course in Creative Writing at Bath Spa UniversitySix astronauts observe Earth’s splendour while navigating bereavement, loneliness and mission fatigue. Compact yet beautifully expansive, this is a love letter to our planet
— The 2024 judges on Orbital
Other nominated books by Samantha Harvey