Astronaut!

‘A brilliant and uniquely energising read . . . you will love this book!’ – Jennifer Croft, translator of Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights and author of The Extinction of Irena Rey

‘Sharp, original and completely absorbing.’ – Georgina Godwin, broadcaster and literary journalist

Romania, 1989: a grey place of mysterious queues, ubiquitous informers and daily news flashes about a man-eating bear that is terrorising the country.

Amidst the daily drudge of work, rationing and careful conversation with neighbours, two lives unexpectedly collide when an idealistic police detective, Constantin, is tasked with solving a string of grisly murders, and a rebellious school child, Lia, is unwittingly drawn into her elderly neighbour’s seditious plot.

Dryly satirical, incredibly tense and deeply moving, ASTRONAUT! is both a detective novel and a coming-of-age tale, one with a perennially relevant message: the lies we accept today become the truths of tomorrow.

Praise for the work of Oana Aristide:

‘Achingly believable, unsensational and chilling’ – The Times

‘A beautifully written, emotionally gripping book’ – Guardian