Before Tuesday night, the author Samantha Harvey had got used to thinking of herself as a bit of an underdog. “It’s not out of self-pity, but I definitely saw myself as being on the periphery,” she says.

British author Samantha Harvey has won the Booker Prize for her novel "Orbital," which focuses on six astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

"Heavens above! Finally a Booker prizewinner that we can all get behind," said Johanna Thomas-Corr in The Times. Samantha Harvey has won this year's coveted literary award with her novel, "Orbital". It's the first book set in space to scoop the prize ...