Orbital: Exclusive Edition

Samantha Harvey (author)

Hardback Published on: 02/11/2023

£14.99

19 reviews

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Bookseller Reviews

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Spend a few perfect hours spinning in the stars

This is my top read of 2023. Small yet mighty and everything a good novel should be. Orbital is one of those rare books which makes you look inward and... READ MORE

Emily Fordham

Beautiful

This book is beautifully written and really makes you think about the bigger picture. Such a unique piece of writing too, as it is fiction but almost reads... READ MORE

Gemma Robb

Absolutely gorgeous

I don't think I've ever read a book as beautiful as this. Prose that borders on poetry, written with a love for humanity that pulses through every word. It... READ MORE

Emily - Coventry

Magnificent

This book shimmers throughout with such beautifully poetic imagery, as seen of the Earth from on high. And yet the writing is so subtle, a fly on the wall ... READ MORE

Phill - Waterstones Bookseller

A uniquely beautiful account of the day in the life of an astronaut

There are many books and articles available that describe the mechanics of the wondrous International Space Station, how it completes a full circle of the... READ MORE

Maggie at Bracknell

A stunning journey through space and time

This book focuses on 6 astronauts from different walks of life and countries who are orbiting around Earth in their spacecraft. It spends delicate time des... READ MORE

Anna

My favourite book of the year

What a book! I thought I might have already found my favourite book of 2024, but Orbital has completely changed that and smashed it out of the park. A tiny... READ MORE

Anna at Belfast

A transportive meditation of my dreams

Orbital is a transportive litarary meditation focusing on a crew of astronaunts as they complete 16 orbits around Earth. It perfectly captures the weight... READ MORE

Victoria at Aviemore

Celestial

Reading this slim, elegant book is probably the closest I will ever come to experiencing space travel. Written as a stream of consciousness that floats be... READ MORE

Beth at Chesterfield

Astronaut musings on our wonderful. Earth

Short book, not a story as such but the experiences and thoughts if 6 astronauts floating around the earth on the ISS, the writing is beautiful. It reads v... READ MORE

Neil Challis @Windsor

An incredible literary achievement

This short but intricate novel is a love letter to planet Earth. It follows six astronauts during their 16 daily orbits around the planet. It shows the... READ MORE

Talia at Cambridge

Captures the spirit of old-school science fiction

Orbital is a wonderful and insightful read that certainly packs a reflective punch given its short run time. I hope that the ‘science fiction’ label placed... READ MORE

Bookseller Adam, Birmingham

Synopsis

Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft contemplating the world below.

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?

Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9781787335714
Number of pages: 144
Weight: 229g
Dimensions: 206 x 136 x 17 mm

Customer Reviews

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Exquisite

I’m in awe of how such a simple premise, such a slightness of plot, could coalesce into such a mesmerising, ethereal and tender read. An utterly, utterly b... READ MORE

Small Adventurist

Booker Longlisted 2024

I had been tempted by the beautiful cover of this book many times, yet constantly resisted it's pull, until it was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024 ... READ MORE

Fiona Sharp

Elegiac prose celebrating our planet

Wow! This novella shy of 150 pages was a stunning reminder of what language was made for. Up in orbit a space station orbits around the Earth every nine... READ MORE

Daren Kearl

A Gem

An exceptionally beautiful tiny book containing both a day in the life of six astronauts, sixteen orbits of the whole earth and the entire history of the u... READ MORE

Emma Southon

Great read

This great little novel transports us out to space, where a team of six astronauts observe the world below. Asking big questions about humanity and the fra... READ MORE

Rob

Not Getting Lost in Space

Long listed for the 2024 Booker Prize, it struck me as an interesting concept and-- being the shortest of the entries-- I thought I could squeeze this one ... READ MORE

Michael Burke

An ode to the Earth

A wonderfully researched novel that contains depth in factual narrative of an astronaut's reality, epic descriptions of how our beautiful earth is visualis... READ MORE

Olivia Sloss

Orbital: Exclusive Edition

Bookseller Reviews

Synopsis

Customer Reviews

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