Astronaut!
A Novel
14 July 2026
Territory Rights — Worldwide including Canada, Singapore and Malaysia, but excluding the British Commonwealth.
Description
A tense, darkly funny, and politically resonant novel of life under authoritarian rule.
Romania, 1989, the twilight of Ceausescu’s dictatorship: A time when every neighbor, every friend, every family member may be an informant for the regime. When news emerges of a man-eating bear terrorizing the country, two bright lives collide. Constantin, an idealistic police detective—prone to daydreaming and scribbling fairytales in his notebook for his four-year-old son—is tasked with solving the string of mysterious deaths. Lia, a rebellious, inquisitive schoolgirl pining for more color in her life, is unwittingly drawn into an elderly neighbor’s secret plot against the regime. The decisions they make amid the constant gray skies and fear of speaking out will have sweeping consequences—for themselves, for their families, and for their country. Astronaut! is a chilling, suspenseful, and resonant tale by a dynamic new novelist.
Reviews
"Astronaut! is a compulsive and thrilling story of life in a dictatorship." — Alice Winn, author of In Memorium
"A brilliant, funny, moving novel set in 1980s Romania. It’s a gripping page-turner but more than any other book I’ve read, it gives a real sense of what it means to live under a totalitarian regime: the lies you must tell and the lies you must accept in order to survive—and what happens when you try to hold onto the truth. Aristide recreates this time so vividly, revealing the cruel deadening effects of dictatorship on ordinary people, its surreality and pettiness. It’s shocking to remember this is recent history; Aristide’s portrayal of a regime that insists on its own truth is a powerful and pertinent one. One of the best novels I’ve read this year." — Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre
"Astronaut! is a brilliant and uniquely energizing read. Oana Aristide’s skill as a storyteller glimmers in every deftly navigated twist and turn, and introduces us to remarkable characters in the grip of a tired totalitarianism they may (they hope) finally be able to put to rest. You will love this book!" — Jennifer Croft, author of The Extinction of Irena Rey
"Readers won’t be able to put this book down. A wry detective story and a searing political commentary, this gripping novel shows us the way people in authoritarian countries struggle to find the truth, or hide from it. It couldn’t be more timely." — Rajesh Parameswaran, author of I Am an Executioner
"Part murder mystery, part fable, part unflinching account of life behind the Iron Curtain, Astronaut! is a tender, brilliant, and harrowing novel. If Solzhenitsyn and Hans Christian Andersen had had literary offspring, it might be Oana Aristide" — Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, author of American Estrangement
"This darkly comic novel strikes a perfect balance between deliciously macabre snickers and the death rattle of an authoritarian system. The magic and fantasies of youth are more levelheaded than the absurd realities of life under an oppressive regime, and child-hero Lia’s naïve optimism and admiration of beauty amount to massive deeds of bravery that had me on the edge of my seat. An important book in times when it is easy to forget rebellions are made of small acts and actors, and anything is possible." — Kenan Orhan, author of The Renovation
"I loved it. Oana has woven political satire, allegory, suspense, humour and fully realised characters into something utterly gripping. It's sharp, original and completely absorbing." — Georgina Godwin
Ebook
9781324123903
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£20.50
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