Shoot the Moon

About the book

How far would you travel for love?

Intelligent but isolated recent physics graduate Annie Fisk feels an undeniable pull toward space. Her childhood memories dimmed by loss, she has left behind her home, her family, and her first love in pursuit of intellectual fulfillment. When she finally lands a job as a NASA secretary during the Apollo 11 mission, the work is everything she dreamed, and while she feels a budding attraction to one of the engineers, she can’t get distracted. Not now.

When her inability to ignore mistaken calculations propels her into a new position, Annie finds herself torn between her ambition, her heart, and a mysterious discovery that upends everything she knows to be scientifically true. Can she overcome her doubts and reach beyond the limits of time and space?

Affecting, immersive, and kaleidoscopic, Shoot the Moon tells the story of one singular life at multiple points in time, one woman's quest to honor both her head and her heart amid the human toll of scientific progress.

Praise for this book:

"A stunning, intimate tale of emotional and intellectual courage, the bravery it takes to face the unknown - especially in our own hearts. Daring, intelligent and wonderfully detailed, Shoot the Moon is the space race novel I didn't even know I was looking for!" - Claudia Cravens

"Part historical fiction, part science fiction, part moving love story, Isa Arsen's Shoot the Moon will surprise you at every turn. Prepare yourself: Shoot the Moon is a book like no other." - Jennie Fields

"Utterly original and overflowing with love in its purest form, Shoot the Moon is a one-of-a-kind journey through space, time and history." - Kristin Harmel

"Arsen lures us in with science, keeps us guessing, and surprises us at every turn. And like the moon in the title, the story circles round to a completion we couldn't have seen until it appeared, full and shining." - Virginia Hartman

"A deep, bold, and crackling smart debut. In the vein of Hidden Figures and The Glass Universe, Shoot the Moon is a complex speculative literary novel imbued with physics and math, but also love and loss and trauma. Arsen will break your heart and light all of the neural pathways of your brain on fire." - Yume Kitasei

"In prose precise as a lucid dream, Isa Arsen leads us through the empty spaces of the atmosphere and the heart, and offers a loving geometry of the ways we find our place in both." - Kathe Koja

"A romantic and dazzling journey into the mystery of time, space, grief and loneliness. Arsen's knowledge of mathematics and physics is truly impressive, and brings authenticity to the world of exploration she has captured. A lovely debut." - Charlotte McConaghy

"A uniquely tender and beautiful book.....A novel of wonder and in-betweens that asks us to consider grief, hope, love, and ambition in equal measure." - Erika Swyler