“We are the stars, and the stars are us. Every atom in our bodies was once out there. Was once a part of them. To look at the night sky is to look at pars of who you once were, who you may one day be.”

这是一部让我听的时候彻底上头、听完后后劲十足甚至想再读一遍的作品，仿佛连夜里仰望星空时，心里都多了新的内容和感受。

小说取材灵感是来自美国第一批女性宇航员的真实历史背景，带读者回到 1980 年代 NASA 正式开放女性进入太空队伍的关键时刻。Reid爱情线与太空训练线的交织，给这段“女性第一次登上太空舞台”的历史被赋予了情感的温度，两条线，都是不同意义上突破重力的过程。爱情线的出现有些出乎我的意料，但它丝毫不突兀，也没有刻意的表达，就是一种柔软、沉静、带着勇气的情感流动，美好且温暖。

Reid 实在是太擅长写人物内心的东西了，那种脆弱与坚韧，细腻的文字让你的心在太空的寂静与人心的喧哗之间来回震动。爱情、梦想与时代的压迫揉在一起，加上Julian Whelan的朗读，有星辰般的浪漫，又像重力一样真实而沉着。既是一段太空浪漫史，也是关于勇气与自我认同的温柔告白。

几段让我印象深刻的文字：

Bravery is being unafraid of something other people are afraid of. Courage is being afraid, but strong enough to do it anyway.

Admitting you were afraid always took more guts than pretending you weren’t. Being willing to make a mistake got you further than never trying. The world had decided that to be fallible was weak. But we are all fallible. The strong ones are the ones who accept 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.