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Interesting Facts about Space by Emily Austin

Contemporary fiction

Interesting Facts about Space

Early Release

This is an early release that's only available to our members—the rest of the world has to wait to read it.

by Emily Austin

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Quick take

Follow one quirky, true crime-obsessed woman on a delightful, heartwarming journey of vulnerability and self-discovery.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, LGBTQ_themes

    LGBTQ+ themes

  • Illustrated icon, Quirky

    Quirky

  • Illustrated icon, LOL

    LOL

  • Illustrated icon, Millenial

    Millennial

Synopsis

Enid is obsessed with space. She can tell you all about black holes and their ability to spaghettify you without batting an eye in fear. Her one major phobia? Bald men. But she tries to keep that one under wraps. When she’s not listening to her favorite true crime podcasts on a loop, she’s serially dating a rotation of women from dating apps. At the same time, she’s trying to forge a new relationship with her estranged half-sisters after the death of her absent father. When she unwittingly plunges into her first serious romantic entanglement, Enid starts to believe that someone is following her.

As her paranoia spirals out of control, Enid must contend with her mounting suspicion that something is seriously wrong with her. Because at the end of the day there’s only one person she can’t outrun—herself.

Brimming with quirky humor, charm, and heart, Interesting Facts about Space effortlessly shows us the power of revealing our secret shames, the most beautifully human parts of us all.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Interesting Facts about Space.

Interesting Facts about Space

CHAPTER ONE

“The teenaged girl was brutally axed to death by her grandmother.”

A cashier is scanning my groceries. I have headphones in. My favorite true crime podcast is playing. I read the cashier’s lips. She asks, “How are you today?” while the podcast host simultaneously says, “They found the girl’s body in the old lady’s basement.

“I’m good, thanks, how are you?”

I put the divider between my groceries and the groceries belonging to the man behind me. I would hate to accidentally purchase his Vienna sausages, or worse—for him to get away with my tampons.

The podcast host explains that the teenager’s body was found decomposing in a Rubbermaid bin in her grandmother’s fruit cellar. Despite the rotting corpse, the grandmother continued to use the fruit cellar. Along with murder, the woman’s hobbies included canning. The body was found next to stacks of fruit preserves and pickled beets.

“Do you need bags?” the cashier asks.

“No, thank you, I brought my own.” I gesture to my tote bag.

The podcast host jokes, wondering if the grandmother ever considered pickling the dead body. I snort at the grotesque concept while the cashier kindly scans my boxed cake mix and Midol. Sometimes you have to joke about things like pickling murdered teenagers. It’s a coping mechanism. It takes the darkness out at the knees.

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Why I love it

I once took an astronomy class in college to fulfill a science requirement and, in the process, learned that “spaghettification” is a legitimate term used by serious people. This immediately convinced me that astronomers are the coolest people in the world, and interstellar knowledge has since been a surefire way to win my interest. Needless to say, I was easily sold on Interesting Facts about Space.

Space facts (while delivered) are only a small part of the wonder that is contained within Emily Austin’s new novel. Our protagonist, Enid, has very specific obsessions (space, true crime podcasts) along with very specific fears (bald men). We follow her hilarious inner monologue through her struggles of serial dating women on apps, bonding with her half-sisters, and the belief that she is being stalked (by a bald man, of course). As she starts to fall into her very first serious relationship and at the same time realizes her stalker might be all too real, Enid has to face the deep, dark inner voice that tells her she might be a bad person.

Interesting Facts about Space captured my heart with its gut-punching relatability, which made me laugh and cry in equal measure. The most poignant moments in the book come from Enid’s wonderfully nuanced relationships with the family and friends in her life as they help her confront her anxieties—and herself. An honest account of humanity’s messiest and most beautiful qualities, you’d be doing yourself a disservice passing this book over.

Member ratings (10,227)

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Contemporary fiction
View all
The Last Love Note
What Does It Feel Like?
Anita de Monte Laughs Last
The Wedding People
Honey
The Leftover Woman
The Same Bright Stars
Bye, Baby
Swan Song
The Days I Loved You Most
The Connellys of County Down
Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life
Jackpot Summer
Adelaide
The Collected Regrets of Clover
Again and Again
Evil Eye
Black Cake
Maame
Romantic Comedy
Someone Else’s Shoes
Once There Were Wolves
We Are the Brennans
The Bad Muslim Discount
What Comes After
Olga Dies Dreaming
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
Monster in the Middle
Nine Perfect Strangers
The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes
Honey Girl
In Every Mirror She's Black
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
Sankofa
The Unsinkable Greta James
The Love of My Life
The Five-Star Weekend
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto
The Wishing Game
Behold the Dreamers
The Mothers
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
Little Fires Everywhere
The Music Shop
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
The Reckless Oath We Made
Dear Edward
When We Were Vikings
The Girl with the Louding Voice
A Good Neighborhood
Big Summer
All Adults Here
Happy & You Know It
Friends and Strangers
The Comeback
True Story
The Last Story of Mina Lee
Troubles in Paradise
White Ivy
This Close to Okay
The Chicken Sisters
The Prophets
In a Book Club Far Away
The Other Black Girl
Apples Never Fall
A Quiet Life
We Are the Light
The Most Likely Club
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
When We Were Bright and Beautiful
The Hotel Nantucket