"An epic love story about sacrifice, ambition, and daring to believe that you can have it all."
Atmosphere follows Joan, one of the first women selected to become an astronaut in the 1980s space shuttle programme. Brimming with excitement and ambition, Joan embarks on this groundbreaking journey alongside a group of fellow trainees, and forms a particularly deep bond with one of them. As their connection intensifies, Joan finds herself torn between pursuing her dream career and embracing the love of her life.
At the same time, Joan is helping her wayward sister raise her young niece, adding a deeply personal layer of responsibility and emotional complexity to her already demanding life.
True to form, Taylor Jenkins Reid brings her characters to life with vivid backstories and nuanced motivations — even the least sympathetic among them feel fully realised and human.
Told in dual timelines, Atmosphere masterfully weaves together Joan’s past and present. As the story unfolds, the emotional weight of the present-day moments deepens. It’s only once Joan’s full history has been revealed that the true gravity and meaning of the present become clear, adding a powerful, retrospective punch to the narrative.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
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An epic novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program and the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.
In the summer of 1980, astrophysics professor Joan Goodwin begins training to be an astronaut at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilots Hank Redmond and John Griffin; mission specialist Lydia Danes; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer. As the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined and begins to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars
Atmosphere features in the following genres: Audiobooks of the Month, Historical Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Romance / Relationship Stories, LGBTQ+ Fiction
Atmosphere is available in Paperback, Hardback, Audiobook
Atmosphere was written by Taylor Jenkins Reid and published by Penguin Books an imprint of Cornerstone
Atmosphere has 352 pages
£8.99
