Shortlisted for THE AGE Book of the Year. 'Pacy, exciting and often unexpectedly moving storytelling.' THE AUSTRALIAN 'Is this all?' That's the question Joan asks as she surveys her neat, suburban home and her perfect children. It's July 1969 and her husband Buzz is walking on the Moon. In Houston, Joan folds laundry and smiles for the cameras. Outside, the world is on fire- assassinations, Vietnam, civil rights and women demanding to be heard. But Joan is safe inside her shiny kitchen and NASA tells her she should be Proud, Thrilled and Happy. Then something goes wrong. Buzz and Neil become stranded on the Moon in their spacecraft. Its single engine has failed and they can't take off. NASA scrambles to find a solution and the world holds its breath. Joan waits patiently. But she's waited long enough. In this audacious reimagining of one of the 20th century's most iconic events, it's the men who are trapped and the women who find the courage to reach for something more. As the world watches the sky, a quiet revolution begins at home.

Details

ISBN13: 9781761343506
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 352
Edition:
Publication Date: 05 Aug 2025
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Publication City, Country: Australia
Dimensions (cm): 22.7(H)x12.9(L)x2(W)248
Weight (gm): 248

Author Biography

David Dyer grew up in a small, coastal town in New South Wales. After school, he pursued an eclectic career that included studying medicine, travelling the world in merchant ships, and working as a lawyer in Sydney and London. Upon his return to Australia, he decided to embrace his lifelong love of literature, and so became an English teacher and writer. In 2013, he was awarded a doctorate in creative arts, and in 2016 published The Midnight Watch, a novel about the ship that witnessed the Titanic's distress rockets but failed to respond. He then turned his attention to space, a fascination sparked in early childhood by the book You Will Go to the Moon, and later by the wonder and wisdom of Carl Sagan. In 2019, David was lucky enough to meet moonwalkers Buzz Aldrin and Charlie Duke at a gala celebration of the Apollo 11 mission, where he was inspired anew by the vision and courage of those who dared to leave our small Earth and explore the depths of space. David currently lives in Sydney, where he teaches, writes and makes cocktails.

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