A story of love, ambition, family and 1980s America, this is a very compelling novel from the author of Daisy Jones and the Six and Malibu Rising. It follows the career and relationship of Joan and Vanessa, who meet on the NASA astronauts training course.

The story begins very dramatically with a crisis in the space shuttle and this is intermittently returned to, while the characters are being developed and their back story explored. Joan’s relationship to her niece Frances is given equal importance to Joan’s romance with Vanessa. Joan has an awful sister, Barbara, who neglects Frances and it was admirable how Joan handles this. Joan is an all-round decent person and we are encouraged to root for her as she navigates life’s problems. The ending is almost unbearable tense. It’s definitely the kind of book that will leave you with a hangover, where you can’t stop thinking about its impact.

The topic of space launches had clearly been well-researched and there were many details to make the story realistic. The barriers faced by women at NASA were also explored, as well as the supposed moral characters that astronauts were expected to have and the general prejudice at the time which forced Joan and Vanessa to keep their relationship secret. The story is very dialogue-heavy; had I been reading the words on the page, some of the dialogue would have seemed bland. I appreciated the audiobook version narrated by Kristen Dimercurio, Julia Whelan and the author, as they really bring it to life.

Published by Penguin, 2025.