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Book Reviews

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

This year’s Booker Prize winner (2024). It’s slim volume, with no plot in sight. Over 24 hours we travel with six astronauts as their spacecraft orbits the earth.

We hear their internal thoughts.

We listen to their conversations.

We learn about life on a spacecraft.

We gaze at our small blue dot, and see how peaceful it looks from their spacecraft, knowing that war is raging, and that the climate crisis is changing coastlines everywhere.

It’s sometimes lyrical, sometimes humorous and sometimes philosophical.

Did it deserve to win the Booker? Discuss!

Reviewed by Gaby Meares
Murder on a Monday Reading Group

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Orbital by Samantha Harvey
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