The novel, which won the Booker Prize in 2024 has a tight, poetic frame: We follow one day in the lives of six people working on a space station above Earth, orbiting the planet 16 times every 24 hours. But this is not a saga of adventure or exploration. It’s a quiet meditation on what it means to be human, prompted by a series of personal reckonings each character faces while floating 250 miles above their home. Space unlocks something in these characters as they look back on the planet from orbit and reflect on life’s difficulties.