Bitches With Books - ‘Orbital' by Samantha Harvey

Bitches With Books - an Edinburgh book club for anyone who identifies as an LGBTQ+ woman.

In December we will be discussing 'Orbital' by Samantha Harvey:

' 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?

Combining an urgent message about the state of our planet - and us humans - with luminous hope and a refusal to sink into despair, the Booker Prize-winning author delivers an affectionate, deeply human saga of six astronauts in space reflecting on life back down on Earth.'

We have a table booked from 6.30pm at Steel Coulson Southside - book chat starts at 7pm. Please only sign up if you can make the date. Hope to see you then!

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