Ramage is a talented writer. This did not feel like a debut in any way. Structurally ambitious, authentically voiced and both emotionally and politically intelligent.
Steph is a young woman who wants to let parts of herself ‘fall away,’ who strives to become an astronaut ‘without the weight of everything that came before.’
But what did come before? Steph’s memories are murky and she’s not entirely sure her mother’s explanation of how the family came to Oklahoma is accurate. Her mother tells generational stories about their Cherokee ancestors as well, determined to instil pride in her daughters. Are these stories true? Steph shrugs it all off, laser focused on her ambition to be accepted as an astronaut candidate.
And it’s this dismissal of the past, the truth, others’ feelings and her heritage that will eventually catch up with her – but (and here is where I dropped a star) it’s a very long time coming and the route is circuitous.
There’s loads of good stuff – fantastic writing, great sibling relationship dynamics, interesting stuff about space travel (and its massive cost, given ‘half the world lives on 7 dollars a day’), authentic exploration of sexuality, faith and heritage and moving detail re the Indian Child Welfare Act.
But Steph is hard to like - self-absorbed and oblivious to how much pain she causes others. The book sags in the second half, characters disappear never to return, the style changes so we suddenly get lots of photos, Insta posts, emails and the pace slows down in certain sections.
But don’t let that put you off. Ramage can write and she’s got something very important to say.

I enjoyed much of this book, particularly the parts that looked at the lives of native Americans and how limited their horizons can be. However, I became increasingly annoyed with the main character. I get that she,was single minded in her ambitions, but she just didn't come across as a very nice person. Very self centred and prepared to betray everyone in order to get what she wants. Moving on to that, I don't believe for one minute that a woman so messed up could make it onto a astronaut training camp. Even if she did, would she really act so recklessly and risk the one thing that she'd always wanted? From going on her nightly walks to her obsession with her fellow astronaut. I just couldn't reconcile the two. The switch to blog entries didn't really work for me either.

This is a amusing immediately witty clever novel
Steph has a plan to become an astronaut but doesn’t have a backup plan. She’s a lesbian Cherochee of native Indian origin struggling to find her place in life. When she was a child, her mother ran away from her father after a car crash to seek a safe for life on a Cherokee reservation. Very gradually throughout the story if we find out exactly what has happened here as Steve initially has very few memories of her early childhood. I thought it was very clever the way that the author gradually sneaks these little tit bits, little pieces of the backstory which we hear through flashbacks.
The importance of the families Cherokee Indian heritage is stressed throughout the novel, giving the characters and otherness which is pivotal in the storyline. Steph herself is less interested in her native family backstory and more interested in getting an education in any way that she can to fulfil her life ambition to become an astronaut. Add to this the fact that she’s a lesbian and the difficulties this leads her to in a high school while she appears to be the only lesbian in her class adds to her difference and otherness. Without giving away spoilers her path to education is not traditional but her single-mindedness comes across very clearly throughout the novel and you really want to see her succeed.
This is novel set in the USA in particular in a town where most of the inhabitants are Cherokee Indian this difference or otherness is a very strong theme through throughout the novel
The author has great skill in describing her characters who are all well formed believable people together with their flaws.
The writing style is clear flowing and easily read. This is an enjoyable immersive novel and I really loved it.
The novel changes narrator from time to time. It’s not often enough for the reader to pick up on this easily so it comes to surprise each time it forced me to concentrate and on occasion do a double take as I’d not picked up the narrator change easily
I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK. 13th of March 2026 by random house UK.
This review will appear on NetGalley UK, Goodreads, StoryGraph, and my book blog bionicSarahSbooks.wordpress.com. After publication it will also appear on Amazon Ahned Waterstones.

Steph Harper is a Cherokee girl growing up in the ’90s, and an aspiring astronaut candidate. Her mother Hannah is raising her and her sister Kayla in a Cherokee community in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, having fled there from their abusive biological father. As Steph grows older, her identity as an Indian, the secrets of her early childhood, and her ambition to go to space begin to collide with each other: she struggles to feel at home in the Cherokee language and finds Kayla’s passionate commitment to influencer activism exhausting and irritating. (This is extraordinarily well drawn: Kayla gets pregnant at nineteen and builds her brand as a mommy blogger under the handle @thatindigenousmama, and Ramage nails the whole lexicon of online advocacy, both its sincerity and its artifice.) Meanwhile, Steph’s first girlfriend Della was a cause célèbre as a child when her adoption away from the tribe and into a white Mormon family became the centre of a Supreme Court case that challenged the Indian Child Welfare Act. The relationships between the two sisters, their mother, and Della form the emotional heart of the book, yet Steph’s professional drive is never shortchanged. Even as she becomes increasingly monomaniacal, sacrificing long-term relationships and ignoring the needs and feelings of her family, the depth of her passion for space is always convincing. I found myself thinking often, while reading, of Martin MacInnes’s In Ascension, which also deals with a woman whose commitment to science and to her own personal ambition creates ruptures in her familial relationships. To the Moon and Back grounds itself more firmly in reality, but it too asks huge questions about why space entrances some of us, where we belong, and whether it constitutes abandonment or despair to pin our hopes of humanity’s survival on a far-distant planet. Steph isn’t an Ambitious Woman Meeting a Bad End, though: she gets to grow and change, to get better at her job when she comes to an understanding with her heritage and human connections, instead of those connections negating her ambition. On a craft level, too, Ramage’s writing is endlessly readable; there were sentences I wanted to underline every few pages or so. A hands-down hit!

3.5 🌟
There was a lot I really liked about To the Moon and back, particularly in the first part. I was intrigued by Steph and admired her ambition, even from an early age.

Sadly, the middle really dragged for me. There was alot of 'filler' and space talk, which, dont get me wrong, was really interesting  but became long winded at times. I'm so glad I continued though because towards the end, it really picked back up for me. The heartbreak, and loss of Stephs mother had me in tears but I was also so glad that after years of sacrifices, her dreams came true.

I've always loved stories that span years because you really get an in depth insight into the charcaters lives, and I loved the ever growing and evolving relationship between Steph, her sister Kayla and her mother. There were lots of moving, genuine moments between them especially when secrets from the past were revealed and we got to learn more about the hardships her mother had faced.

A story about love, ambition, family, reaching for the stars and finding your identity - To the Moon and back really was brilliantly written for a debut novel and I look forward to seeing where Eliana takes us next with her work!

There was a lot to like in To the Moon and Back, especially in the first half of the book, which I thought was excellent. The story was well told, the authorial voice intelligent but straight-forward, and the characters felt real. Ramage is clearly a talent. She also shows later on that she can write an exciting and scary action scene, which felt somewhat out-of-place but was still very well done.

But I felt the wheels came off somewhat in the second half. The format changes slightly, and there were lots of Insta posts and emails, which didn't flow well for me. And often when there was a leap forward in time, the previous time period felt unresolved. Several times I was left thinking "But what happened with...?!"I guess the author is trying to leave things to the reader's imagination but at times it was just unclear. One of the major characters, and the only one that was likeable, also simply disappears from the narrative halfway through. This felt odd, like the author just couldn't think what to do with them and so let them exit stage left.

The two sisters that dominated the book, Steph and Kayla, were both unlikeable. One totally selfish, the other annoyingly self-righteous and preachy. Having real, flawed humans as leads feels like the right thing to do, but when there's no one to root for in a novel, I think it does reduce my enjoyment somewhat. As the book neared it's end I'd long since lost interest in whether Steph would make it to space.

With a few tweaks, this could have been great. Instead, it's a very good debut from an author who clearly has talent.

Steph Harper has to have everything her own way, whether it be landing her dream career as an astronaut or hooking up with the latest girl she’s obsessed with. It’s no wonder she ruffles the feathers of all those in her orbit. Though, those around her are hardly innocent when it comes to self-centredness and self-aggrandisement. Will Steph make it as an astronaut, and if so, at what cost? And how about her sister, her mother, and all the girls she pursues? What drives them, and what stories do they tell themselves in order to blind themselves to their own flaws?

‘To the Moon and Back’ is one of those books where if it matched its synopsis it would be brilliant, but unfortunately it shows only a vague resemblance and is not only a less-than-entertaining read but is also a disappointment. It starts strong, but by about the 20% mark it loses its way and never recovers. Everything after that feels like the draft an author writes before the first draft, where they’re just throwing down random ideas and are yet to figure out what the story is or what they want it to be about.

While this is a book I’m sure a lot of readers will enjoy, there were too many things that didn’t work for me. I won’t go into them all, but here are some of the major issues I had:
- After an initial long section all in Steph’s POV, we abruptly shift to Della’s POV. This disrupted the story for me, especially as I was—at that point, anyway—invested in Steph’s story. I thought maybe Della would become a central character too, and she would have her own story, interweaved with Steph’s, but instead, after a decent stint from her POV, she disappears from the book. If Della was never going to be a central character with her own arc, using her POV feels unnecessary. Similarly, later in the book, we get other random forays into different characters’ POVs who also don’t inform Steph’s story and don’t have arcs of their own.
- None of the characters are likeable. They all treat others poorly, while believing themselves to be perfect.
- Steph’s preoccupation with the girls she wants to hook up with and whether or not they are gay is repetitive and uninteresting.
- Often the author injects random events, like she was stuck for where the story ought to go next and so threw in something big and shocking just for the sake of moving the story forward. I want the story to move forward, but not in a way that feels random and contrived.
- There is frequent backtracking, where readers are told things happened a certain way, only for that to be changed later in the book with a character conveniently confessing ‘actually…’. A lot of what would have been key story moments are lost this way, like when Della tells her parents she is gay or when she tells them she wants to go by the name ‘Della’, not ‘Emma’. I wanted to see those scenes play out on the page, and see how they affected the characters, rather than them be skipped over and then later changed and swept aside in summary. I understand that characters don’t tell the truth all the time, but this felt more like the author changed her mind about events but didn’t want to go back and rewrite them.
- Other key scenes that do make it to the page are rushed through. They are pivotal moments, but there is no time for the characters—or for the reader—to process them. For example, when Steph loses her summer job, which she needs to pay for college, or when Della grapples with her sexuality and rejects her faith.

This book had potential. It could have been a fascinating look at the intersectionality of sexuality, race, faith, and socio-economic background, and how there is no single defining story, but how each character has all these different factors in play that makes their experience unique. Instead, as I said, this book feels like the draft before the first draft, where the author hasn’t yet understood the characters or found the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Eliana Ramage and Random House UK for the ARC. My review will be posted on Instagram, Amazon UK, Goodreads and The StoryGraph near or on the publication date.

There’s plenty of depth in this book, and the writing is thoughtful and layered. I really appreciated the cultural richness woven throughout this story of strong, resilient women. I am interested in stories about identity, family, and finding your place, and this one handles all of this really well. Sometimes, I felt the book dragged a little, but overall it’s the kind of novel that made me think. I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and this is my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Eliana Ramage’s debut novel, To the Moon and Back, presents an ambitious narrative that intertwines themes of ambition, identity, and familial bonds. The story follows Steph Harper, a young woman determined to become the first Cherokee astronaut, and delves into the lives of her Mother, Sister, and college Girlfriend.

However, despite its promising premise, the novel falls short for me in several areas and I really struggled to finish it despite it not being an overly long book.

Ramage’s writing style, though descriptive, felt overly ornate; for me this detracted from the characters' experiences. Whilst I usually enjoy books from multiple characters points of view, the shifts between characters and timelines disrupted the narrative flow for me in this, and overall the story felt disjointed. I also think that this book is slightly unoriginal and too similar to others that I have read before, alongside ones from much more well known Authors such as Taylor Jenkins Reid that have recently been published.

Irregardless, this book really hit home in terms of the characters passion and ambition for success. The writing style didn't do it for me, however I think a lot of people will really enjoy this one and I would be open to exploring any future books written by Ramage.

I’ll be honest and say that i reaaaaally struggled to get into this. But i do think that i will give it another go at some point!!

To the Moon and Back is the story of a Cherokee girl, Steph, whose biggest passion is go to space.
And it was this that intrigued me.
Steph, her sister Kayla and their mother have a car crash when they were children.
We learn later in the novel that some facts are now what they seem.
The rest of the story is about Steph, who behaves questionably in her private life, treating those around her with less than desirable dignity.
Kayla grows happy in her skin. I liked parts of her personality.
What stood out was Ramage’s writing (when we did not see social media posts and text messages, that is, although some of them were necessaru for the narrative to do its magic) and the concept.
I wish Steph’s space experiences were more accurate and authentic.
Overall, I am glad this book exists and I hope Ramage writes other Cherokee characters in the future.
Plot, characterisation, writing, mood were all solid 3 stars in my experience, and there is certainly an audience who would enjoy it more.

Thank you to Net Galley and Eliana Ramage for an ARC of “To the Moon and Back” due to be published in September of 2025!

This novel follows the story of Steph, a young Cherokee woman, determined to become the world’s first Indian astronaut. She comes from a broken-ish family and for many years, she let that control the narrative of her life and has to truly work hard to figure out on her own where she fits into the world.

“I wasn’t surprised by what I had learned. It made sense to me that our messed-up family came from messed-up family.”

Sometimes we come from families that have elements that are not ideal and it is up to us how we choose to let those things shape us into who we ultimately become. There are themes of love, redemption and triumph over how we can come from a “messed-up family” but realize as an adult that it doesn’t define who we truly are.

You will laugh, you’ll get angry and you will even cry as you go through the decades of Steph’s life. I absolutely loved her and her quirkiness so much!

I can’t wait to read future novels from Eliana.

Steph’s memories are hazy but she knows she and her mother escaped a car crash along with her little sister Kayla, and found their way to Oklahoma, Hannah’s home state. Their violent, unstable father, they’re told, died in an accident. As they grow up, Hannah desperate to instil pride in their Cherokee identity, Kayla happily fits in while Steph single-mindedly focusses on her ambition to walk on the moon. When she’s accepted as an astronaut candidate, it’s the first step on a long arduous path that will see her family and her career clash in a way that endangers both.
Ramage has woven a great deal of research both about the space programme and the Cherokee Nation to which she belongs through this story of three generations of women told primarily through Steph. She’s a hard character to like - self-absorbed, seemingly oblivious to the sacrifices that others make for her not least the women who fall in love with her, eyes set on an apparently unattainable aim. It’s a tribute to Ramage’s characterisation that I came to hope that she’d get there. Woven through her narrative is her complicated family story in which Kayla plays a large part, forging her own identity online as a proud stay-at-home Cherokee mother, her uncomfortably authentic Instagram posts scattered through the text. From her author’s note, it’s clear that many of the incidents in Ramage’s novel are based in fact and although I enjoyed it, I felt her research got the better of her.

A tale of a girl who wants to be an astronaut - the desire is driven by her love of science, her need to be loved by her stepfather and probably the requirement to get as far away from her family as possible. So she is a complicated character - as is her sister, her various loves and her mother.

I did very nearly give up after the first quarter; it is a long book and I felt that I had done an awful lot of reading and not much had happened. Perhaps that is the nature of teenage life but once Steph became an adult I found my interest was rekindled and I was keen to read on.

oh wow this book blew me away. it was so touching. so impactful. i couldnt soak up enough time with it. i do love a book that spans time. the years we get to read are like learning about the characters in such a deeper way. and my do you want to get to know these characters. they all had such spark in there own ways and i wanted to check in and see what they were up to next. such brave, powerful, sparky and inspiring woman entered my soul from this book. i couldnt put it down but then didnt want it to end.
i felt like i learnt so much from this book. not just in the knowledge sense but also about cultures. about love. about friendship.
this book is such a stunning book. i could recommend it to anyone who loves any genre, its just a brilliant book.

Eliana Ramage's debut novel (which is hard to believe) "To the Moon and back" is an astonishingly accomplished novel reminding me a lot of Louise Erdrich. 

I loved her writing, she had me in tears towards the end,  causing a flood of emotions as the family story over three decades and the misery caused by the Indian Child Welfare act unfolds.  

At the heart of this book is Steph Harper, of Cherokee descent, whose passion is science, dreaming of becoming an astronaut. Coming of age and raised with her younger sister Kayla on her mother's reservation, she is also discovering that she is gay. Told from Steph's, Della's - Stephs first love - and Kayla's perspective, this 448 page long story is a story about ambition, sacrifice and love in all its variations, between mothers and daughters and grandmothers, sexual love, friendships and the deep set human need to belong...one of the best books I read this year! The author has an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and uses many historical facts of Native American history in hef novel