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Orbital
- Narrated by: Sarah Naudi
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
**SHORTLISTED FOR BOOKER PRIZE 2024**
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?
'Beautiful in every aspect'
SARAH MOSS, author of Summerwater
'One of the most beautiful novels I have read in a very long time'
MARK HADDON, author of The Porpoise
'One of the UK's most exquisite stylists'
GUARDIAN
‘Awe-inspiring’
Max Porter
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)
What listeners say about Orbital
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- Reviewing Things Hey
- 20-06-24
poetic style, hard sci-fi, good background for work, clear narration
ignore other negative reviews above average in every stake, listen to the sample, it's a good story for work, detailed, but no important story elements are missed if you get distracted for a minute, I could listen to this many times over
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- chris
- 22-09-24
A PROFOUND NOVEL.
A slender novel of epic power, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men hurtling through space—not towards the moon or the vast unknown, but around our planet. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts—from America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan—have left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour.
This is a rich, beautiful and lyrical novel. I listened to it over a two day period and I am about to listen to it again. This is not a conventional novel as regards to plot, it is more of a profound meditation on our place in the expanse of the universe. That is not to say that it is preachy or dull, on the contrary it is a work that will stay in your imagination for a long time after you have listened. Sarah Naudi's performance is faultless and the subtle accent led characterisations are captured well. I cannot praise this novel enough.
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- Marc
- 13-09-24
A Beautiful Meditation on Life.
This was a beautifully narrated meditation on life seen from the vantage point of space, looking back at our small fragile planet.
I found myself swept away in my own reverie, sometimes missing the details whilst being conveyed on something that was greater than the sum of it's parts.
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- Dr Red
- 15-08-24
A beautiful exploration of humanity… from the space station
Gorgeous, satisfying prose and lucid, intelligent writing. Although the action is curtailed and confined, the ideas are unfettered and the collective concerns of the astronauts/cosmonauts encircle the earth with their craft.
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- Craig Martin Jones
- 07-08-24
Space poetry
This was a beautiful listen.
I enjoyed the back stories for the characters, but wanted to more.
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- Ricci
- 13-09-24
Is it a sermon? Is it a poem? No, and it’s not a novel either
I went to the Edinburgh Book Festival and heard Samantha Harvey talking about her book and the process of researching and writing it. I couldn’t wait, I wanted to download and read it immediately - but of course I had other books on the go. Now I have read it and … well … I’m wondering why I didn’t learn my lesson from last year’s Book Festival. (Last year the self same thing happened with ‘In Ascension’ by Martin MacInnes). Samantha’s book has no plot. Sometimes it sermonises, but it’s not a sermon. Sometimes I thought it was trying to do the work of a poem, but it’s not really poetic. Orbital (and In Ascension is like this too I think) tries to capture the wonder of science, but fails because it’s science-writing by an artist. Of course, I love artists, I love poetry, conceptual art, music, theatre etc. etc. long live artists. But the wonder of science, for me, comes from understanding it (in so far as any of us understands anything). What’s wonderful is the fact of a thing - not its shape, its colour, its connection in the grain with another thing, or whatever. Go deeper. Expose the next fact. That’s what makes peoples’ eyes go wide, that’s what children do. Samantha, if you’ve studied philosophy and you’re great at writing, study some maths or physics. I promise you you can do it, then write it, in whatever form you like. It’ll be dynamite
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- Roger Smith
- 04-03-24
An interesting book spoilt by poor narration
This is a brave attempt to combine literature, science, philosophy in a lyrical novel. Sadly the narrator just couldn't do it justice. She was obviously not understanding some of what she read, her diction was poor, and her timing erratic. To be fair, this book isn't the easiest read, but so many Audible narrators could have done a better job.
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1 person found this helpful