Elisa Shoenberger has been building a library since she was 13. She loves writing about all aspects of books from author interviews, antiquarian books, archives, and everything in between. She also writes regularly for Murder & Mayhem and Library Journal. She's also written articles for Huffington Post, Boston Globe, WIRED, Slate, and many other publications. When she's not writing about reading, she's reading and adventuring to find cool new art. She also plays alto saxophone and occasionally stiltwalks. Find out more on her website or follow her on Twitter @vogontroubadour.
I cannot get enough of outer space. That wasn’t always the case, but thanks to my daughter’s interest in space, I’m hooked. Heavenly bodies are cool, but the history of humanity’s efforts towards space travel is even better. And then there are recent literary books that imagine what it would be like to be in space; I’m thinking of Samantha Harvey’s Booker-winning Orbital that goes into the minds of six astronauts in the International Space Station in a single day.
When I read the blurb for Eliana Ramage’s debut novel To the Moon and Back, it was an instant yes for my TBR list. Little did I realize that it may be the best book I’ve read this year.
To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage
The book opens with six-year-old Steph in the backseat of a car with her younger sister Kayla. Their mother, Hannah, is driving away from her abusive husband to the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. For Kayla and Hannah, it’s a chance to restart and connect to their Native heritage. But to Steph, it’s a place that contains her. All she wants is to go to the moon.
This is not just a heartwarming story about one woman of color rising to meet the challenges on her way to a dream. It’s also a story about the personal cost of achieving a dream to oneself and everyone around them.
Steph’s sister and mother do not quite understand her compulsion; they find meaning and identity in their Native community. Steph wants little to do with it, except when it suits her purpose. She’ll do anything, sacrifice anything, to go to space.
The book tells Steph’s story over several decades through the eyes of the women in her life: her college girlfriend Della, who was at the center of a Native adoption case and ended up with a white family in Utah; her sister Kayla, who becomes a Native influencer; and her mother Hannah, who sought a new life in Oklahoma.
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What makes the book so compelling is that you can understand Steph’s frustration about not fitting into her community; you can appreciate how much she wants to go to space and overcome the obstacles in her way, including people who just don’t understand her. But you can definitely sympathize with the views of her family, friends, and community. Steph is often selfish and can even be cruel.
For instance, there’s a real showdown with Steph and her own community, notably when she’s confronted with the fact that the U.S.’s space program continues to colonize Native land even during her own training. But there are no easy answers here. Even Kayla and Hannah’s claim to Native heritage has its own challenges. Della has her own baggage to handle as she tries to find out who she is and who she should be.
It’s a story of persistence and determination, but it’s also about identity and figuring out what you owe the people around you and what binds you to your heritage. And of course, it’s about becoming an astronaut. Get your heart broken with Eliana Ramage’s debut novel.
For more books about space, check out this list of books about astronauts or this list of space books for kids.
English (US) · 