My new novel, Orbital, will be published on 2nd November 2023 and can be pre-ordered here.
Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to 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 magnificent, thunderous work‘
Nathan Filer
‘I don’t think I’ve read anything else with such love for its characters and such clarity about the state of the planet‘
Sarah Moss
‘One of the most beautiful novels I have read in a very long time’
Mark Haddon
‘A radiant explosion of a novel’
Jamie Quatro
‘An awe-inspiring and humbling love letter to earth’
Max Porter
‘A gorgeous song of praise from on high’
Mike McCormack
‘A lush description of the gorgeous earth’
Daisy Hildyard