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 easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted 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, everything changes in an instant.
Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, 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. - taylorjenkinsreid.com
The thought of being in a space shuttle always freaked me out. I feel suffocated just thinking about being in such a small enclosure and somehow even the sheet vastness of space itself makes also makes me feel suffocated and full of anxiety. Back when I was a kid my cousin was obsessed with the movie Apollo 13 that had just come out on VHS in 1995. She insisted we watch it at a sleepover. It was scarier to me than anything Freddy Kreuger or Jason Voorhees could do.
However, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Atmosphere, the latest by Taylor Jenkins Reid which follows Joan Goodwin who becomes one of the first female astronauts in the early 1980s space program. I relied on my faith of TJR’s skill of writing compelling, fully developed and realistic characters to carry me through my claustrophobia. The beginning was a little tough to get into for me as it was a lot of tech about the space program and NASA which was a little out of depth for me. However, I quickly grew to love and root for Joan and her niece Frances as well as fellow astronaut Veronica. Right on the cover, Atmosphere is described as “A Love Story” and yes while there is a beautiful love story here with astronauts falling in love, it’s also a beautiful love story about finding your true self and exploring your heart’s desire and found family. I ended up tearing through this book in just two days. I know it’s a clichéd expression but I just couldn’t put it down and the ending had me literally tearing up which trust me is quite a feat for someone like me with a chronic dry eye condition. LOL This was a beautiful story and I wish we’d get an epilogue but then again maybe leaving what happens next is left best to one’s imagination where it can be bigger than the stars.
I was lucky enough to pick up a signed copy of Atmosphere at The Strand in NYC during a birthday trip. You can find your copy at your favorite local shop, library or online store.
