The members of this fictional first expedition to the Moon are stranded when the relief ship supposed to take them home crashes. They hope for a new one but do not have enough oxygen or food to wait for it. So they set about to mine and synthesize it from the Moon itself. No matter if it is scientifically plausible, the concept of food made dirctly from moon rock was fascinating and my main reason for reading this book.

The whole story was told as a journal, with a few comments from an editor at some point in the future, and that is probably why it is so emotionally subdued - rarely any panic or drama, arising from the situation, just getting to work and counting up the trials and work output. But the conflict that came into play near the end with the stolen original food, and shortly after, the major problems with the chemically synthesized food, really got to me.

The Ace printings (at least) of the sf novella The Moon is Hell also contain the roughly 100-page fantasy novella The Elder Gods. Reportedly Lin Carter wanted to include this latter in one of his collections in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.