Another Booker Prize-winning novel has made its way up my tbr. Orbital by Samantha Harvey is a stunning literary science fiction masterpiece that will leave you mesmerised, awestruck, and ever thankful for our beautiful planet earth. If there was ever an ode to Mother Earth and to humanity, it is within these pages.

Life on our planet as you’ve never seen it before 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?

Samantha Harvey’s splendid poetic prose tracks the lives of these astronauts and cosmonauts across a day, but this day is not as mundane as it is on earth. Making sixteen revolutions around Earth, the crew onboard the International Space Station see Earth in a completely different light, and as such view life – its meaning, purpose, importance, etc. – very differently. How can they not when most of there time leaves them thinking, observing, and powerless to what they see happening far below. The lyricism and musicality of the prose is so immersive and engrossing, pulling the reader into the plights of these individuals. It feels almost like a play, a concert piece, or a work of art hung up to view. It has that reverence to it that leaves you as a reader mulling it over.

I understand that some people don’t like poetic prose, a theme-driven novel without a sense of gravity (excuse the pun and space words, I can’t find another way to articulate this point) or a grounded driving force to the prose. I am part of this camp to an extent, but what I find with Orbital is that the themes, images, and purpose are delivered from the off-set. The intention of the novel is evident, making it feel tethered despite the “slice of life” snippet we see with this crew which implies a continuation and lack of change or growth.

Orbital is a truly gorgeous, expressive, evocative read, and it makes me think of This Is How You Lose The Time War with its use of language, imagery, and longing. If you have read This Is How You Lose The Time War and you enjoyed it, then I highly recommend picking up Orbital. If you are the literary fiction fan or seeking out prize-winning books to sink your teeth into, Orbital needs to be added to your tbr list, if not in your hands in some way by the end of the week. It is one of those reads that will haunt you for weeks on end, yet you will never get enough of it and you’ll come crawling back for more.