Los astronautas
» 3rd reprint in 3 weeks after publication
In this book, Laura Ferrero shares a moving account of a family that never was, that disintegrated almost before she existed, and which left its mark on all three family members forever.
I had a family, but nobody ever told me about it. On December 26, 2018, I came into possession of a wayward photo of my mother, my father, and myself. When I saw it, it was the first time I used those two words together: my family. And that was also when this novel began. When I was a girl, I ping-ponged between divorced parents and their families. From those confusing years, there is a surviving doodle of my father dressed as an astronaut, and across the drawing I had scrawled the word NASA in enormous letters. Why had I chosen to make my father an astronaut in an enormous spacesuit, even though he worked at a bank?
On December 26, 2018, I decided to start writing a novel, a novel about my family. I got the notebooks and the recorder and sat down across from the protagonists—my father, my mother, and their respective partners—to ask a very simple question: what happened during those years that necessitated making every last vestige of it vanish? The result: they lied to me, so I tucked the novel away in a drawer, ostensibly forgotten. I picked it back up only when I found a way to tell the story of my family that, unbeknownst to me, had always been linked to those men and women—astronauts—who had traveled as far away as possible, farther than anyone had gone before, to understand what, ultimately, had always been within their reach.
PRESS
«A story both harsh and dazzling, one of this year’s most outstanding books.» RTVE (Spanish National Radio)
«In this profound and powerful novel, Ferrero takes us on a journey to the ends of the family realm, somewhere we might not be able to return from. And even if we do, we will never be the same.» Héctor Abad Faciolince
«Ferrero is from now on one of the great writers on “the family” concept. She’s explored its depths with no fear, illuminating its darkest corners with her writing.» Juan Tallón
«I devoured this beautiful, complex and enthralling quest for family roots. Los astronautas consecrates Laura Ferrero as an exceptional storyteller.» Isabel Coixet
«Reading it makes you lust for life.» Manuel Jabois
«Ferrero does what great writers do: digs and creates tunnels, because the truth resists and is rarely in sight, especially the truth that concerns the family.» Juan Tallón, El Periódico
«A tremendously erudite and closely intimate book, which caresses sacred details, as Nabokov liked, and which reaches painful and healing truths. Complex and brave. […] Truly impressive.» Miqui Otero, El Periódico
«A brutal exercise in honesty.» María Viñas, La Razón (Book of the day)
«When Laura writes, the everyday moves you. She makes you want to know more about the day after, you even want to climb inside the story and become a part of it, go shopping with her, give her your opinion, cure her sadness. Because before you finish, be warned, this book hurts.» Marta Gándara, Faro de Vigo
«Laura Ferrero came onto the scene with Qué vas a hacer con el resto de tu vida, and has not stopped writing and recruiting readers since. […] [In Los astronautas] an unprecedented image pushes her to reconstruct her memory so that everything from her adult life makes sense – an opportunity that childhood possibly doesn’t allow you. And it is that moment exactly, childhood, where everything happens.» Maria Gomez, Onda Cero
«An exercise in building family memory, an exploration of origin in order to understand the present, and the discovery of a mystery.» Aloma Rodríguez, La Lectura (El Mundo)
«An intergalactic journey.» David Morán, ABC
«An exciting story about the family, a deep and powerful novel, a journey to the confines of the family space from which we do not know if we can return and, if we do, we will no longer be the same as when we left.» Marina García, La Tarde con Marina (PlazaRadio)
«A great storyteller. And she does it with a rare calmness, and patience and sensitivity. [With The Astronauts] she conquers from the first word, and she knows how to take the reader by the hand, delving into difficult issues we do not want to think about, where there are unclosed wounds.» Claudia Saiz Puig and Begoña Alonso, Elle
«So exciting that you run the risk of starting to read and not being able to stop.» Elena López Ávila, Telva
«Laura Ferrero immerses us in the exciting universe of a family that fell apart before it existed, and in the imagination of a girl who wanted a father and had to invent one. […] Magnetic.» César Suárez, Telva
TRANSLATIONS
Arabic: Dar Mdarek; Brazil: Tordesilhas; Russia: Livebook; Film: TK
