Orbital

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft contemplating the world below

'Beautiful in every aspect'
SARAH MOSS, author of Summerwater

A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. 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. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?

'One of the most beautiful novels I have read in a very long time'
MARK HADDON, author of The Porpoise

'One of the UK's most exquisite stylists'
GUARDIAN

‘Awe-inspiring’
Max Porter

©2023 Samantha Harvey (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics 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*

  • Stunning… The beauty of the prose engages the reader fully… An uplifting book

    Sunday Times

  • 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

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