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Atmosphere: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Love Story

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • From the 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.

The stunning hardcover of Atmosphere features beautiful endpapers and a premium dust jacket!

“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 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 easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted 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, it all changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars.

BUY THE BOOK

Published Jun 3, 2025

352 pages

Average rating: 8.36

91 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

JL Reads
Jun 25, 2025
10/10 stars
TJR is another automatic read, so are audiobooks read by Julia Whalen. This was amazing. I love when TJR picks a subject, dives headfirst into research, and then weaves a fantastic story that’s both educational and fictional gold. This is hands-down, my favorite TJR book, possibly my favorite book of the year. I listened on audio, but will be buying the physical book so that I can see the words on the pages and reread them whenever I might start to lose face in humanity. Book #54 in 2025
jenlynerickson
Jun 22, 2025
10/10 stars
“Being human was such a lonely endeavor. We alone have consciousness; we are the only intelligent life force that we know of in the galaxy. We have no one but one another…everything–all matter on Earth and beyond, up past the atmosphere, going as far as the edges of the universe, as it expands farther and farther away from us—is made from the same elements. We are made of the same things as the stars and the planets. Remembering that connection brought…comfort. It also brought…some sense of responsibility. And what was kinship but that? Comfort and responsibility.” “For the space shuttle program to be an American victory felt so small compared to the victory that it could be, should be. Look what we humans had done. We had looked at the world around us—the dirt under our feet, the stars in the sky, the speed of a feather falling from the top of a building—and we had taught ourselves to fly…Space belonged to no one, but Earth belonged to all of them.” “When Joan looked back at the Earth, she was overwhelmed with her own life's meaning and the fact that the only meaning it could have was the meaning she gave it. Joan studied the thin blue, hazy circle that surrounded the Earth. The atmosphere was so delicate, nearly inconsequential. But it was the very thing keeping everyone she loved alive. Intelligent life was her meaning. People were her meaning.” To someone, you are everything that matters on this entire planet. To someone, you are a thank you note, for their greatest gift is to live life alongside you.. What started as Taylor Jenkins Reid’s attempt to create an interesting backdrop for a love story became the beginning of her understanding her place in the world–and a reminder to me as a reader of my place as well. To be a teacher is to be a storyteller. And how lucky am I? To be the one to tell my students stories. I will tell you stories forever, my elementary extraterrestrials, and eagerly listen to all of yours. “Because while the great expanse of space may be enticing, I belong here, with you, looking up at the stars from afar.” You may be my former students, but I am forever your fan, Miss Erickson
TheBlur
Jun 22, 2025
9/10 stars
Oh my god the lesbians.. THE LESBIANS!!! I read this via audiobook, which I HIGHLY recommend. Narration was so well-done. I wept for the last 15 minutes, which is not easy to get me to do!!
GolferGopher
Jun 19, 2025
2/10 stars
DNF. Lost me when I realized that this was more of a love story between two women rather than detailing the space program and women's experiences with the training and challenges they faced. Not my cup of tea.
Larry Burns
Jun 18, 2025
9/10 stars
Wonderful!

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