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