*Orbital*, Samantha Harvey's novel, has won the 2024 Booker Prize, making her the first solo female author to receive the award in five years, since Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo shared the prize in 2019.

Set on the International Space Station, the novel transports readers into space alongside six astronauts. These characters experience unusual conditions: a diet of freeze-dried food, continuous zero-gravity suspension, spacewalks, and the rapid succession of sunrises and sunsets. Within this isolated environment, readers encounter universal reflections on the pain of separation, loneliness, and the human desire for connection. By framing the entire planet within its narrative, *Orbital* dissolves the conventional boundaries of nations, time zones, and individual stories.

The 134-page book, translated by Khanh Nguyen, was released to Vietnamese readers in late April, a collaboration between Literature Publishing House and Nha Nam. *Photo: Mai Lien*

Harvey developed much of the novel's content during the Covid-19 lockdown. Prior to this, she experienced a period of doubt and a crisis of confidence, feeling unqualified to write about space without having personally experienced it. She even set aside the manuscript, believing she was intruding upon a world not her own.

Upon revisiting her initial drafts, Harvey discovered a unique energy and rhythm that resonated with her, compelling her to complete the novel. During the writing process, she spent countless hours observing live feeds from the International Space Station.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Harvey stated, "I always have images of Earth seen from orbit open on my computer screen. That is the most important reference point for me." She noted a parallel between this orbital perspective and the lockdown experience, where individuals were undeniably present to one another yet unable to connect physically.

The novel has garnered widespread critical acclaim. Wendy Smith lauded the book, stating it "contains sentences so beautiful that readers have to stop in amazement." Writing for The Guardian, Alexandra Harris observed, "Harvey takes an exhilarating journey with an imaginary crew on the International Space Station, while looking back at Earth with the eyes of someone in love."

Edmund de Waal, chair of the 2024 Booker Prize judging panel, explained that the judges sought a work that offered profound emotional depth and broad resonance. Harvey's *Orbital* met this criterion, employing emotionally rich and incisive language to reframe the familiar world for readers.

"The novel *Orbital* demonstrates Samantha Harvey's deep observational ability regarding the fragile world we are all striving to live in and share," de Waal commented.

Author Samantha Harvey at the 2024 Booker Prize awards ceremony. *Photo: AP*

Samantha Harvey, 51, is a British novelist. She studied philosophy at the University of York and the University of Sheffield before completing a Master's in creative writing at Bath Spa University in 2005 and later earning a Doctor of Philosophy in creative writing. Her debut novel, *The Wilderness*, which explored the perspective of a man in his 60s battling Alzheimer's disease, was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction (then known as the Orange Prize) in 2009.

In 2009, *The Wilderness* also earned Harvey a longlist nomination for the Booker Prize. *Orbital* marks her fifth novel, following *All Is Song*, *Dear Thief*, and *The Western Wind*. She also published a memoir on insomnia, *The Shapeless Unease*, in 2020.

Phuong Linh