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Orbital
- Author
- Samantha Harvey
- Narrator
- Sarah Naudi
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 2 November 2023
- Run Time
- 5 hours 8 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction, Narrative theme: environmental issues / the natural world, Narrative theme: sense of place, Popular astronomy and space
- Rating
- 5.0 (1 review)
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What to expect
**WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024**
**THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**
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?
'A slim, profound study of intimate human fears set against epic vistas' GUARDIAN
'Stunning... An uplifting book' SUNDAY TIMES
'Our unanimity about Orbital recognises its beauty and ambition. It reflects Harvey’s extraordinary intensity of attention to the precious and precarious world we share' Edmund de Waal, Chair of the 2024 Booker Prize judges
*A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR, DAILY MAIL AND MAIL ON SUNDAY*
©2023 Samantha Harvey (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Critics Review
-
Our unanimity about Orbital recognises its beauty and ambition. It reflects Harvey’s extraordinary intensity of attention to the precious and precarious world we share
Edmund de Waal, Chair of the 2024 Booker Prize judges
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In this slender novel, Harvey seems to have encompassed all of humanity… It is an extraordinary achievement
Observer
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Gorgeously poetic… I was knocked out. It’s also surprisingly funny… One of the most original novels I’ve read this year
Sunday Times, *Books of the Year*
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Harvey beautifully evokes the wonder and fragility of our planet and its inhabitants. An uplifting book, in every sense
Guardian, *Books of the Year*
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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In Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, six astronauts circle the world 16 times. Gliding through Harvey’s technicolour prose is an equally frictionless experience
Financial Times, *Books of the Year*
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Orbital is the rarest of things, a book that satisfies both my lifelong obsession with space travel and my hunger for sentences and paragraphs that demand to be read and reread… My goodness this novel is beautiful
New Statesman, *Books of the Year*
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Eerily beautiful
Spectator, *Books of the Year*
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One of our most consistently surprising novelists rips up the rulebook again… A boldly imaginative meditation on time and the nature of existence
Daily Mail, *Books of the Year*
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Orbital is entirely original, a serenely beautiful and intelligent creation
Mail on Sunday, *Books of the Year*
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This genius novel… Asks big questions about humanity and the fragility of our lives… A short yet exquisite read
i
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
- No written reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Samantha Harvey
- Narrator
- Sarah Naudi
- Duration
- 5 hours 8 minutes
- Release Date
- 2 November 2023
- ISBN
- 9781529934090
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction, Narrative theme: environmental issues / the natural world, Narrative theme: sense of place, Popular astronomy and space
- Rating
- 5.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 5.0(1 review)
Synopsis
**WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024****THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**Life on our planet as you've never seen it beforeA 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?'A slim, profound study of intimate human fears set against epic vistas' GUARDIAN'Stunning... An uplifting book' SUNDAY TIMES'Our unanimity about Orbital recognises its beauty and ambition. It reflects Harvey’s extraordinary intensity of attention to the precious and precarious world we share' Edmund de Waal, Chair of the 2024 Booker Prize judges*A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR, DAILY MAIL AND MAIL ON SUNDAY*©2023 Samantha Harvey (P)2023 Penguin Audio
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