Before Tuesday night, the author Samantha Harvey had got used to thinking of herself as a bit of an underdog. “It’s not out of self-pity, but I definitely saw myself as being on the periphery,” she says.

Samantha Harvey won the prestigious award for a wonder-filled novel, set aboard the International Space Station, that ponders the beauty and fragility of Earth.

Most bets were on Percival Everett’s “James,” but the judges chose Harvey’s “beautiful, miraculous” novel, which is set aboard a space station.