‘Atmosphere’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of the most anticipated books of the year. Author of global successes such as ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo‘ and ‘Daisy Jones and the Six‘, Taylor Jenkins Reid excited fans at the end of 2024 when she announced that her ninth novel ‘Atmosphere’ is due to be released this summer. I was thrilled to be able to get hold of an early proof copy, and I can’t wait to share my thoughts on this book with you!
“An epic novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits”
TaylorJenkinsReid.com
Set in the 1980’s, in the midst of the space shuttle program, ‘Atmosphere’ follows the story of Jane Goodwin, a physicist who applies to a NASA advert to become one of the first woman scientists of the space shuttle program. Selected out of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan heads to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to begin her training alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates. As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined, and begins to question everything she thought she knew about herself, and her place in the universe. Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
I want to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, as I want everyone to enjoy their first read of this book as much as I did. However if you want to go into reading this completely blind, please pause now and come back once you’ve read it so we can chat!
Now, if you’re new here, and you couldn’t already tell by the name of this blog, I am a huge fan of all things space travel. During lockdown in 2020 I developed an interest in learning about space, literally out of nowhere, and spent much of that year consuming every film, book, and documentary I could about space. (This even became part of the inspiration for the name of my small business, Mission Better, which I launched that same year). When this book was announced I hadn’t long finished reading ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo‘ so when I saw that this next novel was going to be set during the early years of the space shuttle program, I was beyond excited – it couldn’t have been more perfect!
It probably comes as no surprise then that one of the things I loved most about this book was how well researched it was. I really disliked reading ‘Orbital‘ by Samantha Harvey last year, for many reasons, but namely the way that book made it seem like astronauts on the International Space Station just float around all day, with nothing to do apart from look out the window and feel melancholy. ‘Atmosphere’ on the other hand felt completely the opposite. The research Taylor Jenkins Reid has clearly done oozes out from every page. Each of these characters goes to space with purpose, undertakes years of rigorous training for a reason, and the experiments that are conducted during their spaceflights are important. You are captivated with the urgency certain tasks had to be carried out with, and are shown how important everyone’s role during spaceflight is, whether they are on the shuttle itself, or in Mission Control. It was the perfect balance between being informative enough to provide rich context to the story, and allowing the reader to feel fully immersed in that era, without being made to feel like you were reading a textbook. I even noticed in the acknowledgements that Taylor Jenkins Reid had consulted with astronaut Mike Massimino to help with the creation of this novel, and she also wrote out a list of the books she used for her research for any readers who are interested in further reading into NASA and the space shuttle program. As someone who loves space, I really appreciated this attention to detail, and it really increased my enjoyment of the book tenfold.
The characters in ‘Atmosphere’ are lovable, and complicated. All with their own clear backstories, dreams, and reasons for why they’re all there. As a reader you become seamlessly invested in this story, and it doesn’t take long before you start to feel as if you know all of these people personally. This is really effective, as it helps mimic the way that Joan starts to feel about the people she meets at NASA. Getting to learn more about each of them at Joan’s pace, adds a real humanity to some of the more science-y aspects of the story.
This also feeds into the way the story is told, and I believe that the way Taylor Jenkins Reid has structured ‘Atmosphere’ is almost as important to the story as the words themselves. I loved the switch in tenses throughout this novel, twisting back and forth between the current spaceflight to previous moments in time. From key characters meeting each other, to being introduced to various subplots, information is almost drip fed to the reader at the exact moment you need it, providing so much more of a vivid context as you go along. It’s an emotional read, and this is only enhanced by the many layers to the story. There are so many moments where you laugh when the characters do, fall in love when the characters do, feel scared when the characters do, and feel sad when the characters do. Reading ‘Atmosphere’ felt immersive, and I almost found myself in a bit of a haze after finishing, not quite ready to leave the story behind.
This book is gripping and emotional, and will have you rooting for the characters from the first word right until the very last. The second it was done, I immediately wanted to pick it back up and start it again. It’s for sure earned its place on my shelf of all time favourite reads.
‘Atmosphere’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid is being published in the UK on 03/06/2025 – and you can preorder it here! (Maldon Books is my favourite local independent bookshop, and they ship all across the UK! Make sure to support your local businesses where you can!) Waterstones also have a beautiful exclusive signed edition with sprayed edges available to preorder too, which I’m very tempted by!
Follow me on Goodreads if you want to see more of what I’m currently reading. Also, let me know once you’ve read Atmosphere, and what your thoughts on it are!
Emma 🌙
