To the Moon and Back
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Brought to you by Penguin.
The astounding and expansive coming-of-age novel about a young woman whose quest to become the first Cherokee astronaut irrevocably alters the fates of the people she loves most.
A LITHUB MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025
Steph Harper is on the run.
When she was five, her mother ran – with Steph and her younger sister in tow – from an abusive husband into the arms of a small Cherokee community, where she hoped they might finally belong.
But Steph soon sets her sights as far away as she can get, vowing that she will let nothing interfere with her dream to become an astronaut, and ultimately, to go to the moon.
In Steph’s certainty that only her ambition can save her, she will stretch her bonds with the three women who know and love her most dearly: her younger sister Kayla, an artist whose determination to appear good takes her life to unexpected places; her college girlfriend Della, who strives to reclaim her identity as an adult after being removed from her family as a young girl through a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act; and her mother Hannah, who has held up her family’s history as a beacon of inspiration to her kids, all the while keeping the truth about her own past a secret.
Told through these women’s interwoven lives, and spanning three decades and several continents, To the Moon and Back is an astounding and expansive coming-of-age novel of mothers and daughters, love and sacrifice, alienation and heartbreak, terror and wonder. At its core, it is the story of the extraordinary lengths one woman will go to find a little space for herself.
‘Will break your heart and take you to the stars. I loved it’ Kiley Reid, bestselling author of Such a Fun Age
A singular, sonorous, wholehearted novel, one I wanted to devour and savour at once’ Claire Lombardo, bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever HAd
‘A powerful story about the mixture of combativeness, compromise and love that forms the heart of a family’ Kaliane Bradley, bestselling author of The Ministry of Time
©2025 Eliana Ramage (P)2025 Penguin Audio
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This heartfelt debut novel will make you laugh, sigh and cry your eyes out. Steph and her sister, Kayla, were just kids when their mother went on the run to raise them on the Cherokee Nation reservation. In the years that follow, they each struggle with the aftermath of those difficult times, along with the pain of generational trauma. Kayla pours her emotions into a string of causes as an activist, while Steph channels her feelings into something bigger: a single-minded mission to become an astronaut. What captured us about Steph was that, despite her admirable goal, she’s far from an idealised heroine. She’s deeply flawed and beautifully, painfully realistic. As she struggles to come of age, honour her cultural heritage, understand her sexuality and succeed in an impossibly competitive field, she makes mistakes and learns from them. A trio of narrators turn Eliana Ramage’s story of sisterhood, identity and self-actualisation into a truly unforgettable listen.
