Published By: Fourth Estate
Pages: 272
Released On: 26/03/2026
January 28, 1986: moments after launch, the Challenger shuttle falls from the sky. At the same time, in a small English village, Oliver Ines is born.
Ollie spends his childhood in a bedroom covered in glow-in-the-dark wallpaper, bearing the planets and stars. Decades later, he has become one of the most renowned astronauts of his time. When an enterprising billionaire approaches him to lead a landmark, ten-year mission to the distant moon, Europa, Ollie cannot resist the call of history.
As the mission advances deeper into unchartered territory, Ollie finds himself retreating into the past: his school days and years in the navy, relationships found and lost, becoming a husband and father. But will the world he remembers still be waiting for him, ten years later, when he returns?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Fourth Estate for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I own a copy of Cecile’s book Wandering Souls but haven’t read it yet and so I had no preconceived ideas going into this one. But the synopsis sounded fabulous, and the cover beautiful. I am fascinated by space and astronauts and whatnot, and this sounded completely up my street. And having read it, I can now guarantee that Wandering Souls will be rapidly moving up my TBR.
Straight from page one this was beautiful. Cecile’s writing, her word choice, how she puts a sentence together, everything is just simply beautiful.
Yes it is a space book, sci-fi, fantasy, but it reminded me of a futuristic version of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere (which was brilliant), in the sense that underneath all the sci-fi elements, is a story about people, love, passion, friendship, community, compassion, exploration, connection, hope, family, dreams, and a sense of belonging, and everything about it is beautiful (I know I keep using that word but I don’t have a better one).
Rarely do I want a book to be longer – I don’t like overly long books – but I did want more of this. What is there is perfect, and because of that, I wanted more of it. I could have lived in and loved this world forever.
Oh I know I keep repeating myself but it is beautiful. It is so moving that I found myself in tears several times. It’s s touching and emotional and, yes, beautiful.
This was my first read of 2026 and it’s already got a special place in my heart and there is no doubt it’ll be on my favourite books of the year.
Books By Your Bedside 