Why you should read Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Samantha Harvey's lastest novel Orbital, about six astronauts in their spacecraft contemplating the world below, has been lauded since its release in the UK late last year. Our booksellers are beyond excited that it has finally been released locally and want you to know why you should rush out and purchase a copy—NOW!
This is quite honestly one of the best things I've read – perhaps ever – and is so, so good and special that I don't even really want to talk about it.
– Alison Huber is the head book buyer for Readings
I love a small, almost plotless book that contains big ideas, and Samantha Harvey’s Orbital is a beautiful example of this kind of novel. There’s nothing like months and months away from home working on the International Space Station to give a little perspective to the human experience, and the globally diverse characters assembled by Harvey have plenty of time to sit with their thoughts and contemplate the mysteries of the meaning of life. A wide, abstract vista narrows down as we spend intimate time over the course of one day with each of the astronauts in orbit. I loved Orbital’s beautiful prose and wandering cosmic philosophy. But mostly I loved its unexpected earthiness – its concern with bodily matters, desires, death and decay – and its understanding of how fragile we all are and how much we really need each other. A really gorgeous book for our fractured times.
– Joanna Di Mattia is from Readings Carlton
A beautifully written meditation on the human condition. Even at great distances, like Harvey's orbiting astronauts, the big guiding philosophical questions are a constant, and act as a tether with the Earth below.
– Julia Jackson is the assistant manager of Readings Carlton
My entry to Samantha Harvey’s orbit (pun intended) came via her amazingly (at times somewhat painfully) accurate memoir of insomnia, The Shapeless Unease (2020). I was instantly impressed by her razor-sharp, poignant prose, and hand-sold the remaining copies with great verve. I leapt at Orbital upon release with equal enthusiasm. Harvey’s reflection on humanity’s place in the universe, our relationship with the Earth, the passing of time and chronicling the world’s movement through it from the panoptical perspective of a team of astronauts aboard a space station, is both gloriously poetic and deeply contemplative. My fandom is entrenched.
– Roland Bisshop is from Readings Carlton
