National Network for Equitable Library Service

Good Morning America Book Club pick. From the #1 New York Times bestselling 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. Joan Goodwin is a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. When Joan sees a NASA ad seeking the first women scientists to join its space shuttle program, she burns to be among the few chosen to go to space. Selected from thousands of applicants in 1980, she begins training at Houston's Johnson Space Center alongside a remarkable group of candidates—Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond, scientist John Griffin, tough mission specialist Lydia Danes, warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, and mysterious engineer Vanessa Ford. As these astronauts prepare for flight, unexpected friendships form and Joan discovers a passion—and a love—that transforms her perspective on life, science, and herself. But when mission STS-LR9 launches in December 1984, everything changes in an instant. Fast-paced, emotional, and transporting, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best, telling a soaring story of love, ambition, and the universe itself.