4.5 

Atmosphere: A GMA Book Club Pick

By Taylor Jenkins Reid
Atmosphere: A GMA Book Club Pick by Taylor Jenkins Reid digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • From the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

“Thrilling . . . heartbreaking . . . uplifting . . . the fast-paced, emotionally charged story of one ambitious young woman, finding both her voice and her passion.”—Kristin Hannah, author of The Women

“NASA? Space missions? The ’80s? This is a collection of all the things I love.”—Andy Weir, author of Project Hail Mary and The Martian

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, NPR, People, Good Housekeeping, them, Marie Claire, Seattle Times, Book Riot, Library Journal, Chicago Public Library, She Reads, Denver Public Library

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars.

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Atmosphere: A GMA Book Club Pick Reviews

4.5
“Is it even a TJR book if you’re not sobbing at the end?!”
“I couldn’t put it down. For me it was the perfect mix of suspense, drama and romance. And now I want to learn more about the stars…”
“Sobbing. Truly exceptional ending.”
“Atmosphere is polished, well-researched, and very committed to its vibe. Unfortunately, that vibe is “educational space content meets not-like-other-girls energy,” and I just…didn’t care. A solid chunk reads like a NASA training manual, the rest leans very modern for an 80s setting, and somehow none of it made me feel anything about the actual characters or relationships. At this point, I’m realizing I could probably copy/paste my review from another book by this author and just swap in the setting. It’s clearly working for a lot of people—it’s just not working for me.”

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