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Orbital

By: Samantha Harvey
Narrated by: Sarah Naudi
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Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

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?
©2023 Samantha Harvey (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Literary Fiction Psychological
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Critic Reviews

'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)

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A stunning excuse to love this planet

Hanging in the ether above the Earth, circling always in snippets of day and night, Harvey has captured something wondrous and beautiful. A reflection more than a story and all the more wonderful for it. It’s mesmerizing and somber. An enchanting reminder of fragility and time wrapped in the thin metal shell of a dying space station.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.