Orbital by Samantha Harvey won the 2024 Booker Prize. It’s the first book set in space to do so and has a fascinating concept – tracking 24 hours in the life of six (four) astronauts and (two) cosmonauts on the International Space Station (ISS), I was completely engrossed.

Opening sentence: Rotating about the earth in their spacecraft they are so together, and so alone, that even their thoughts, their internal mythologies, at times convene.

16 Orbits

There are 16 chapters in Orbital to represent the 16 times the ISS actually does orbit the Earth, at 17,000 miles an hour, in a 24 hour period. The astronauts (and cosmonauts) see a constant stream of days and nights as they track around the earth. This is all described so beautifully throughout the book:

Continents and countries come one after the other and the earth feels – not small, but almost endlessly connected, an epic poem of flowing verses.

Such detail that dazzles

While reading Orbital, I found myself wondering if author Samantha Harvey had a space background of some sort, as her detail on life in the ISS was amazing. Turns out no, she doesn’t, she is an impeccable researcher. I found myself googling further info on the moon landings and the challengers disaster, learning so much about space travel while reading this.

Orbital packs so much into its 136 pages, exploring themes such as the vastness of space, how insignificant (or significant depending on your approach) we really are in the universe, how small things make a huge difference, the power of what it is to be human: love, family, belief in God, the importance of a soul and then conversely how robots are on track to be the main astronauts but should they be?

All about perspective

As well as rich descriptions of their present, we learn more about the life of each astronaut, their passions and drive. From each astronauts’ link to space as children to how their loved ones are coping now, being apart from them in such a public way.

I particularly loved how perspective, choice and the link between science and art was illustrated through one of the astronaut’s back stories when the breakdown of the many possible meanings behind Las Meninas painting by Diego Velázquez is described.

Orbital is such an immersive and thought-provoking read. It covers deep themes without ever feeling heavy: it’s a philosophical take on life, it’s a description of a truly unique experience and as it was all so beautifully written, it just washes over you and leaves you thinking long after you finish. Definitely a book I’ll pick up again.

On the space theme, I also loved An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield, the memoir of a Canadian astronaut, great for further insight into space travel.