Celestial Lights: A Novel

**One of *Vogue* ’s Best Books of 2026**
**One of the New York Public Library’s Books of the Day**
**A beautiful, heartbreaking novel about ambition, love, and space from the award-winning author of *Wandering Souls***
January 28, 1986: Soon after launch, the *Challenger* shuttle falls out of the sky and into the sea. At the same time, Oliver Ines is born. *Celestial Lights* is his story.
Ollie spends his childhood in an English village where his bedroom is 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 taps him to lead a landmark mission to the distant moon Europa, Ollie makes a choice that will send his whole world spinning.
As the mission advances deeper into unchartered territory, Ollie finds himself retreating into the past: his university days in London 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?
A portrait of a complicated man and a breathtaking tale of memory, personal choices, and the relationships that define us, *Celestial Lights* is an unforgettable story that questions what we owe ourselves and our loved ones when our ambitions and loyalties collide.