Astronaut!: A darkly funny and deeply moving coming-of-age story set in Communist Romania
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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 the work of Oana Aristide:
'Achingly believable, unsensational and chilling' - The Times
'A beautifully written, emotionally gripping book' - Guardian
Read MorePraise for Astronaut!
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Part thriller, part fable, this is fascinating, funny and very moving - highly recommended. - GUARDIANBrilliant, compulsive and thrilling. I will be reading this book again! - Alice Winn, author of IN MEMORIAMI loved it. Sharp, original and completely absorbing. - Georgina Godwin, broadcaster and literary journalistAristide's skill as a storyteller glimmers . . . you will love this book! - Jennifer Croft, author of THE EXTINCTION OF IRENA REY and translator of Olga Tokarczuk s FLIGHTS.With dark, bone-dry wit, Aristide conveys the simultaneous terror and absurdity that shadows Lia and Constantin as their stories converge. Though it brings some respite, the affecting conclusion remains true to this existential uncertainty. As it shifts between fear, hope, comedy and violence (both physical and otherwise), the memorable Astronaut! is quite unlike anything else so far this year. - Irish TimesA gripping page-turner . . . one of the best novels I've read this year. - Joanna Quinn, author of THE WHALEBONE THEATREHad me on the edge of my seat . . . an important book. - Kenan Orhan, author of THE RENOVATIONIf Solzhenitsyn and Hans Christian Andersen had had literary offspring, it might be Oana Aristide. - Said Sayrafiezadeh, author of AMERICAN ESTRANGEMENT
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