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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
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Astronaut! is a compulsive and thrilling story of life in a dictatorship.--Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam
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[A] splendid novel. . . . A stirring ode to the goodness that persists despite humanity's cruelty.-- "Publishers Weekly"
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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
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Child-hero Lia's naive 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
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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 timelier.--Rajesh Parameswaran, author of I Am an Executioner
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A brilliant, funny, moving novel. Aristide recreates this time so vividly, revealing the cruel deadening effects of dictatorship on ordinary people. One of the best novels I've read this year.--Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre
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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 literary offspring, it might be Oana Aristide.--Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, author of American Estrangement
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Part thriller, part fable, this is fascinating, funny and very moving--highly recommended.--Laura Wilson, Guardian
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With darkly bone-dry wit, Aristide conveys the simultaneous terror and absurdity that shadows Lia and Constantin as their stories converge. . . . The memorable
Astronaut! is quite unlike anything else so far this year.--Brian Cliff and Elizabeth Mannion, Irish Times
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A political satire captures the spirit of Marx meeting the Marx Brothers.
-- "Kirkus Reviews"
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Aristide's expert conjuring of the atmospherics of totalitarianism calls to mind the absurdist brilliance and wry humor of dissident Czech writers like Hrabal and Klima. . . . Importantly, what Aristide's wonderful novel illustrates is that even in the darkest of timelines it is possible to find shelter--and something like freedom--within the vast spaces of the imagination. . . .
Astronaut! also reminds us that in all fascist systems of control there is a point when the grip gets so tight the mechanisms shatter and everything changes all at once.--Emily Temple "Literary Hub"
Publisher Marketing:
Romania, 1989, the twilight of Ceau?escu's dictatorship: Daily news flashes of seemingly random murders grip the nation. The suspect? A man-eating bear.
Amid the fear of informants, official lies, and daily rationing, two bright lives collide. Constantin, an idealistic police detective prone to scribbling fairy tales in his notebook, 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 eccentric elderly neighbor's secret plot against the regime. While everyone around them is flattened into submission, the two find the spirit to carry out small acts of defiance. Their decisions will have sweeping consequences--for themselves, for their families, and for their country.
Masterfully plotted and psychologically astute, Astronaut! is both a chilling detective novel and a moving coming-of-age tale. It carries a powerful message: the lies we accept today become the truths of tomorrow.
Review Citations:
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Publishers Weekly 05/04/2026 (EAN 9781324123897, Hardcover)
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Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2026 (EAN 9781324123897, Hardcover)
Contributor Bio:Aristide, Oana
Oana Aristide was born in Transylvania and spent her childhood in communist Romania. She has variously worked as a macroeconomist in London, cabinet advisor in Bucharest, travel journalist, and hotelier in Greece. She now lives in Sweden.
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