Communist 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.

More praise for ASTRONAUT!:
'Had me on the edge of my seat' - Kenan Orhan, author of The Renovation
'If Solzhenitsyn and Hans Christian Andersen had had literary offspring, it might be Oana Aristide.' - Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, author of American Estrangement
'Completely absorbing.' - Georgina Godwin, broadcaster and literary journalist
'With dark, bone-dry wit [. . . ] Astronaut! is quite unlike anything else so far this year.' - IRISH TIMES

'Part thriller, part fable, this is fascinating, funny and very moving - highly recommended.' - GUARDIAN

'Brilliant, compulsive and thrilling. I will be reading this book again!' - Alice Winn, author of IN MEMORIAM

'One of the best novels I've read this year.' - Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre

'You will love this book!' - Jennifer Croft, translator of Flights by Olga Tokarczuk and author of The Extinction of Irena Rey