Tracking the movements of six astronauts on the International Space Station, Samantha Harvey’s Orbital – the winner of last year’s Booker prize – imagines the day-to-day lives of those who have chosen to be “shot into the sky on a kerosene bomb and then through the atmosphere in a burning capsule with the equivalent weight of two black bears upon them”.
Only basic information is provided about the crew, who are from Russia, the United States, Japan, Italy and the UK. Harvey is more interested in the tasks undertaken to keep themselves healthy and their lodgings shipshape. Simultaneously expansive and intimate, Orbital reveals how the usual routines of eating, sleeping and exercising are fraught with challenges when you are weightless: toothpaste foam must be swallowed rather than spat out and cutlery adhered to the table using magnets.
Harvey is also alert to the isolation of the astronauts, even though they can’t get away from one another: “They are so together, and so alone, that even their thoughts, their internal mythologies, at times convene.” Yet their capsule proves a utopia of sorts where earthbound quarrels and borders cease to exist. Cooperation is vital as they go about their work while breathing the same recycled air.
Actor Sarah Naudi is the narrator, providing a lyrical and hypnotic reading that is in keeping with the otherworldly setting. As the team hurtles through space, orbiting the Earth 16 times a day, they debate the existence of God and reflect on the wonder and fragility of human life. From their rare vantage point, “the earth … is like heaven. It flows with colour. A burst of hopeful colour.” Available via Penguin Audio, 5hr 7min
Further listening
Death at the Sign of the Rook
Kate Atkinson, Penguin Audio, 9hr 31min
The sixth book in Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series begins with the theft of a valuable painting. Read by Jason Isaacs.
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Who Wants Normal?
Frances Ryan, Penguin Audio, 8hr 34min
Drawing from her experience and those of other prominent Britons with health conditions, the Guardian columnist reflects on what it means to be disabled in the 21st century.