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