An Astronaut's Life

In sparkling prose, Sonja Dechian’s profound, moving and wry stories speak to our deepest yearning for connection and the inevitability of our isolation.

From a terrorist cell of cyber-bullying victims working to annihilate the digital memory of their humiliation to a pandemic that leaves grieving parents battling for the media spotlight, these affecting tales invite us to examine our inability to control the world around us—and our own desires.

An Astronaut’s Life is a beautiful debut from an intelligent new voice in Australian writing.

Sonja Dechian is a writer, editor, and radio and TV producer. She has co-edited two collections of stories about the Australian refugee experience, Dark Dreams and No Place Like Home (Wakefield Press).

'Head-spinning, sometimes spine-tingling. Every story here is a strange and remarkable gem.' Wayne Macauley

‘By the final page I was fully immersed in the book’s world—one both fantastical and eerily similar to real life. I wished I could have stayed longer.’ Bookseller & Publisher

‘[It’s] great reading the work of such an inventive writer, and I’m incredibly interested to see where she takes us next.’ Readings

‘[Dechian’s] best stories have a sustained voice, simple and nimble…The places she takes you turn out to be well worth the time.’ Saturday Paper

‘An Astronaut’s Life announces the arrival of a deeply original voice.’ Weekend Australian

‘These stories don’t contain all the answers to the questions they pose, but they illuminate the ways humans adapt or otherwise to life’s challenges – both big and seemingly extreme, as well as small, domestic, and apparently insignificant. Dechian has a light touch so that while her writing is intelligent it is never dense, and An Astronaut’s Life is the salve for anyone who thinks plot-driven literary fiction is an oxymoron.’ Age/Sydney Morning Herald

‘[An Astronaut’s Life] is a well-written book by an accomplished author who skillfully manages to draw you completely into the lives of the people she is writing about.’ Weekly Times

‘With a steady, no-nonsense prose style, peculiar scenarios and subtle turns in plot, An Astronaut’s Life reflects our messy world...[The stories] all share a unique quirk-quality that mixes with profound compassion.’ Rochford Street Review