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“Orbital” by Samantha Harvey<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Orbital<\/strong> <\/em>by English author Samantha Harvey was winner of the Booker Prize 2024. The novel is beautifully written with distinctive and poetic prose. It covers a 24 hour period in the International Space Station as six astronauts and cosmonauts from America, UK, Japan, Italy and Russia hurtle through 16 sunrises and sunsets at over 17,000 miles per hour, 250 miles above Earth.<\/p>\n Their day is filled with individual tasks carried out with dedication and precision as they pass over and see the ever changing vistas of oceans, mountains, deserts and glaciers, a world without borders. They watch as a gigantic typhoon builds over the Pacific.<\/p>\n They have a daily exercise programme to offset the negative effects of the lack of gravity and at night they sleep floating about in their small claustrophobic cabins. We are given brief insights into the lives, histories and thoughts and learn how the cycle of daily orbits result in the loss of their natural sense of time.<\/p>\n This novel initiated a lively discussion and some very different reviews from the Page Turners. All agreed it was well written and thought provoking. Some were fascinated by the narrative and were of the opinion that any elaboration of the characters would have changed the whole tenor of the book. More negative responses described how they found it tedious and boring with no plot or character development, not enough human drama and too many lists and repetitive descriptions of scenes of Earth from space. Scores ranged from 4 to 10 and the overall score was 8.5.<\/p>\n “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey Orbital by English author Samantha Harvey was winner of the Booker Prize 2024. The novel is beautifully written with distinctive and poetic prose. It covers a 24 hour period in the International Space Station as six astronauts and cosmonauts from America, UK, Japan, Italy and Russia hurtle through 16 sunrises and sunsets at over 17,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[424,41],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-47b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16584,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16584","url_meta":{"origin":15821,"position":0},"title":"“Orbital ” by Samantha Harvey","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th January 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Orbital \" by Samantha Harvey This book made a strong impression on our group. The novel takes us into the lives of astronauts orbiting the Earth, following the course of a single day in which they circle the planet nine times. From this unique vantage point, Harvey\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for February 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for February 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=430"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OrbitalBook.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13204,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13204","url_meta":{"origin":15821,"position":1},"title":"SILVER FOX OUTING – No 1: 25 May, 23","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd July 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"SILVER FOX OUTING - No 1: 25 May, 23 \u00a0 The outing was suggested and planned by Iain Pate. It was a highly successful trip and early indications are that Iain will organise another day-out. There were 10 foxes and one vixen, all proudly waving a Senior Rail Card. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Picture9.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Picture9.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Picture9.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Picture9.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6095,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6095","url_meta":{"origin":15821,"position":2},"title":"To Do List For July","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th June 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"RHS to do list for July Check clematis for signs of clematis wilt. Arrange care for house plants while on holiday. Keep tubs and pots watered, but be water wise. Dead head bedding plants and repeat flowering perennials. Pick courgettes before they become marrows. Treat apple scab. Clear algae and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Village Gardener"","block_context":{"text":"The Village Gardener","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=77"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6797,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6797","url_meta":{"origin":15821,"position":3},"title":"A Visit to Puy Du Fou","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"SHARED EXPERIENCES A Visit to Puy Du Fou by Sylvia Harvey Puy Du Fou is an historical theme park near Nantes in France welcoming over 2.3 million visitors every year. Throughout the summer on Friday and Saturday nights is La Cinescenie - this is the most amazing spectacle. It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Miscellaneous"","block_context":{"text":"Miscellaneous","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=127"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Picture9.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12654,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12654","url_meta":{"origin":15821,"position":4},"title":"November 2022 Book Choice","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th December 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe Thirteenth Tale\" by Diane Setterfield What a lively discussion about this tale! Synopsis Everybody has a story. Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once home to the March family. Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield\u2019s past and its mysterious connection to the writer Vida Winter. Vida\u2019s history\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":656,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=656","url_meta":{"origin":15821,"position":5},"title":"43rd Anniversay","author":"Alan Williams","date":"18th August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This year is the 43rd anniversary of the formation of the Club de P\u00e9tanque de Pays de Galles co-founded by Chairman, the ubiquitous jazzman, Mike Harries and the President Claude Faurie as well as the late Sid Richards as Treasurer. The club was originally the biggest individual sporting club in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Petanque"","block_context":{"text":"Petanque","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=122"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15822,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821\/revisions\/15822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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