WRITER.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars

337 pages

Historical Fiction, Romance

Spoiler-Free section

This book was recommended to me by my therapist, and I had read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and enjoyed it, so I had high hopes for this one. It turns out those hopes were justified. Atmosphere is a space adventure and a love story.

Joan Goodwin, the main character, is a sweet, sometimes clueless yet highly intelligent woman who starts out as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University. She discovers an opportunity to apply to be an astronaut working for NASA and takes the plunge. Through the space program, she finds many new friends, rivals, and even love.

This book is a historical fiction set in the 1980s, and the NASA program is looking for the first women astronauts. Other than Joan, there are two other women who shine in this book – Vanessa and Lydia. Vanessa is a pilot who has a bit of a dark past, having had little care for her own life and being a rebel. Lydia is stuck up, ambitious, and lacks social skills, but I admit that I did warm to her.

There is a character named Jimmy who I know we are supposed to hate, and he always makes sexist jokes such as “how many women does it take to put up a tent” and other such insulting comments. Lydia always laughs when he does that and Joan confronts her for it. For Joan, this seems like encouragement and ensures that the behavior will never improve. Lydia, on the other hand, feels that in order to be seen as equal to men, they must become like men. They must never let the bad humor get to them either, just shrugging it off.

It was interesting to think about. Here in 2026, women are much more respected, though not free from sexism. I doubt sexism will ever go away. But I don’t think we got this far by just becoming like men. Women paved their own path. It has come to the point that there are significantly more women going to college than men. More are graduating too. The world has changed, in many ways for the better.

I enjoy science fiction, but I don’t pretend to be an expert at telling how realistic a book is. I’m more of an English nerd than a science nerd. But the science in this book was believable. The book starts off with a mission gone wrong and does so convincingly.

Usually books that jump back and forth through time are confusing to me, but I quickly became accustomed to it this time.

Spoiler time!

This book engaged me from the start. The disaster that claimed the lives of half the crew did not feel as tragic at first, but then when the book went back and introduced these characters and built up the relationships between them, I was slowly devastated by their loss.

I felt bad that after Joan and Vanessa both were obsessed with space and stars, they both had such terrible experiences as astronauts. Joan couldn’t stop puking. She did her job but was so sick the whole time and never wanted to go again. Vanessa nearly lost her life and did actually lose friends. I feel like they deserved better. I suspect both of them will be satisfied merely gazing at the stars from Earth from now on.

The love story was gorgeous. I am glad to say there was very little spice in this book, which I appreciate. That’s more of a personal taste thing though.

“Just the act of falling in love was to agree to a broken heart.”

This quote stuck out to me because of its aching truthfulness. Eventually, love either ends as a break-up or by one of the partners dying. It also set a theme for the book – will this love be short and tragic or long and beautiful?

“If you’re in bed next to me, I will take your hand. If you are not, I will go find you. I will spend the rest of my life, if I get that lucky, seeking you out. Not because I promised you or because you’re there. But because I will want to. I will want to be beside you. Every day. Forever.” “You will?” Vanessa tucked a strand of Joan’s hair behind her ear. “Every morning, I wake up and I think, ‘God, yes, her.’ ” Joan smiled and dried her tears. “If that can be enough for you,” Vanessa said, “it’s yours until the day I die.”

That’s another perfect quote from the novel that sums up how wonderful this romance is. As a queer person myself, I often seek out books with queer romance that is wholesome and healthy. I was greatly satisfied by this one.

Now let’s talk Barbara and Frances.

Barbara is Joan’s sister, and is narcissistic, careless, and clingy. She sinks her hooks into Joan and uses her thanklessly, and even when she offers actual appreciation toward the end, it is superficial and only meant to soften the blow of bad news. Joan tries to be everything Barbara needs and love her sister, especially as the one chosen to shoulder her burdens with her.

Even though Frances is Barbara’s daughter and adores her, when Frances acts out it becomes apparent that Barbara’s love for her is shallow. This becomes even more clear when Barbara marries a man who makes minimal efforts and doesn’t want kids. He is unable to handle her “rudeness” and the couple sends Frances off to boarding school. They even leave Frances at boarding school for Thanksgiving break, even though all the other children go home.

I was so happy when Joan basically took over custody of Frances and finally put Barbara in her place. That was epically satisfying. The following quote is one of the truly loving things Joan tells Frances.

“You make my life worth something. And I can promise you with my entire body that you will never be alone. Every day, you can wake up and go to bed knowing there is someone whose heart is bursting, barely able to contain how much they love you. I know you’re my niece, Frances. But you have always, too, been mine.”

Joan is more a mother than Barbara ever was. Even Vanessa, who just met Frances recently, acts more like a mother or at least a cool auntie.

The ending made me sob. And it is very rare that a book does that to me. I was so relieved when Vanessa was okay. So, so relieved. I wanted a happy ending desperately. And at the end, I wanted more. I wanted an encore, a happy reunion. But I admit I wasn’t really disappointed. It was a happy ending regardless.

I do wonder why the book is called Atmosphere. Perhaps because the characters had to exist in an atmosphere of sexism and homophobia, or perhaps because Vanessa had to survive entering the atmosphere at the end with a damaged ship.

Anyway, if you want a book that will make you feel something, that is written beautifully, that celebrates queer romance – this is the book for you.