Overview

Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft contemplating the world below '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***

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9781787334342

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Reviews

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, Velázquez, 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 One of the UK's most exquisite stylists * Guardian * This generation's Virginia Woolf * Telegraph *

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 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, Velázquez, 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 One of the UK's most exquisite stylists * Guardian * This generation's Virginia Woolf * Telegraph *

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

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 Indubitably intelligent, Harvey's prose is also quite simply ravishing ...This generation's Virginia Woolf * Telegraph * I loved reading it before I fell asleep every night - it seemed to give my sleep resonance and poetry. What a beautiful book -- Tessa Hadley, praise for THE SHAPELESS UNEASE [A] remarkable book ... Harvey writes with hypnotic power and poetic precision about - well, about everything * Mail on Sunday, praise for THE SHAPELESS UNEASE * Beautifully rendered, deeply affecting, thoroughly thoughtful * New York Times, praise for THE WESTERN WIND *

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 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 Indubitably intelligent, Harvey's prose is also quite simply ravishing ... This generation's Virginia Woolf * Telegraph * I loved reading it before I fell asleep every night - it seemed to give my sleep resonance and poetry. What a beautiful book -- Tessa Hadley, praise for THE SHAPELESS UNEASE [A] remarkable book ... Harvey writes with hypnotic power and poetic precision about - well, about everything * Mail on Sunday, praise for THE SHAPELESS UNEASE * Beautifully rendered, deeply affecting, thoroughly thoughtful * New York Times, praise for THE WESTERN WIND *

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 Indubitably intelligent, Harvey's prose is also quite simply ravishing ... This generation's Virginia Woolf * Telegraph * I loved reading it before I fell asleep every night - it seemed to give my sleep resonance and poetry. What a beautiful book -- Tessa Hadley, praise for THE SHAPELESS UNEASE [A] remarkable book ... Harvey writes with hypnotic power and poetic precision about - well, about everything * Mail on Sunday, praise for THE SHAPELESS UNEASE * Beautifully rendered, deeply affecting, thoroughly thoughtful * New York Times, praise for THE WESTERN WIND *

Author Information

Samantha Harvey is the author of the novels The Wilderness, All is Song, Dear Thief and The Western Wind and a work of non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease- A Year of Not Sleeping. Her work has been longlisted for the Booker Prize, and shortlisted for the James Tait Black Award, the Women's Prize, the Guardian First Book Award and the Walter Scott Prize. The Wilderness was awarded the Betty Trask Prize. She is a tutor on the MA course in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.

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