British author Samantha Harvey achieved a historic milestone on Tuesday, winning the 2024 Booker Prize, the U.K.’s most prestigious literary award, for her novel “Orbital,” the first-ever space novel to receive the award, the BBC reported.
Harvey’s novel is about a day in the life of six astronauts on board the International Space Station orbiting the Earth observing weather systems traverse the fragility of borders and time zones.
The 136-page novel unfolds in a single Earth day, capturing the astronauts’ awe and reflection as they witness 16 sunrises and sunsets while circling the blue planet.
Harvey refers to her novel as a “space pastoral,” emphasizing the beauty of Earth as it spins silently past glaciers, deserts, mountains, and oceans.
“Orbital” has captured reader interest, becoming the best-selling book on the shortlist in the UK and outselling the previous three Booker winners combined as of her win.
Harvey is the first woman to win the Booker since the 2019 dual victory of Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood. She received the honor in a ceremony in London’s Old Billingsgate.
During her acceptance speech, Harvey dedicated her win to “all the people who speak for and not against the Earth and work for and not against peace,” a statement that reflects the novel’s contemplative tone.
Reflecting on her journey, she said she doubted herself while writing the story, questioning why anyone would want to read her depiction of space, particularly when compared to real-life accounts. Her uncertainty was particularly pronounced during her isolation during the UK lockdowns, she said, a time when she was writing about “six people trapped in a tin can,” a confinement echoing humanity’s lockdown experience.
The Chair of the judging panel, Edmund de Waal, commended the novel as “a book about a wounded world,” highlighting Harvey’s ambitious language and poetic lyricism that brings a unique introspective beauty to the story.
“Orbital” is the second-shortest book to win the Booker, following Penelope Fitzgerald’s 132-page novel “Offshore,” which won the prize in 1979. Orbital’s timeframe, a single day in the astronauts’ lives, is also the briefest among this year’s shortlist. Along with Harvey’s novel, this year’s shortlist featured five other works, including Percival Everett’s “James”, Rachel Kushner’s “Creation Lake”, Anne Michaels’ “Held”, Yael van der Wouden’s “The Safekeep,” and Charlotte Wood’s “Stone Yard Devotion”. Five of the six shortlisted authors this year were women, a historic first for female writers in the prize’s 55-year history.
“Orbital” is Harvey’s fifth novel, following her acclaimed debut book, “The Wilderness,” which made the Booker longlist in 2009. Her victory continues the legacy of past Booker luminaries, including Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and Hilary Mantel.