Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new book Atmosphere launches readers into space — but she says, “I can’t hack it”

Taylor Jenkins Reid, the bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six, Carrie Soto is Back, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Malibu Rising, among other novels, has launched another novel, Atmosphere. The historical fiction is set in the Space Shuttle program of the 1980s and follows the story of Joan Goodwin, a physics professor who is selected by NASA as a member of a class of female scientists to explore space.

An excerpt from the book’s synopsis reads:

"As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.”

Although Atmosphere is meant to help Reid’s readers explore space, the author has emphasised that she would never go up there. In a June 3, 2025, interview with Entertainment Weekly, the bestselling author stated that she could never withstand the physical toll of space and that she didn’t think she was meant to go there:

"I'll get asked all the time, 'Do you want to go to space?'" And I'm like, 'Do they have Dramamine for space? If not, then no thank you.' I can't even go on a windy road. I can't hack it. I don't think I'm meant to be up there."

"I keep choosing these things that I know less and less about," says Taylor Jenkins Reid about writing the novel Atmosphere

Taylor Jenkins Reid, in her Entertainment Weekly interview, revealed that she likes to write about subjects that are foreign to her. She added that it helped her to broaden her research and knowledge:

"I keep choosing these things that I know less and less about. So, my research process becomes harder and harder. And with this one, I was like, 'Oh, I've hit my limit of what I am able to teach myself in a limited amount of time. I knew nothing about space. I knew nothing about NASA. I knew nothing about astronomy."

Taylor Jenkins Reid revealed that while she was inspired by Loren Grush’s The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts, she had to learn the mechanics of a space shuttle through the help of Paul Dye, NASA’s longest-serving flight director. The author stated that Dye helped limit her story to what was scientifically plausible and in a way that kept the reader engrossed.

Taylor Jenkins Reid described Atmosphere’s protagonist, Jones, as someone who believes that one could live a fulfilled life devoid of romance until she embarks on the expedition to space and her perspective shifts:

"She's okay when we meet her. She's good. But it turns out she does misunderstand this thing about herself, and watching her discover it is hopefully very rewarding. There was a good opportunity here for the reader to understand more about Joan earlier on than Joan does, to hold her hand through it as she begins to understand."

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid is now available at major retailers, including Target, Walmart, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Penguin Random House.

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