Orbital, by Samantha Harvey

At 136 pages this is barely a novella but the prose is so dense it’s a slow read. Poetic, philosophical and colourfully geographic, it delves into the minds and hearts of six astronauts on the International Space Station. Gently profound on climate change and the folly of humankind, the story celebrates the blue planet and laments its inevitable demise. This year’s Booker winner is narrow, deep and most unusual.