What A Time To Be Alive

<p><h3>A <i>New York Times </i>Editors' Choice<br><br>'<b>A fresh, tender, and resonant bildungsroman'<br></b> R. O. Kwon, author of <i>Exhibit</i><b><br><br>'A measured and gorgeous writer, in command of the senses in a way that makes the reader feel alive'</b><br><i>New York Times</i><br><b><br>'Playful and witty, <i>What A Time To Be Alive</i> is a charming meditation on coming-of-age, privilege, and grief'</b><br>Cecile Pin, author of <i>Wandering Souls<br></i><br><b>'A dark coming-of-age story set in Stockholm [with] a really light touch that makes it really beautiful'</b><br>Natasha Brown, author of <i>Universality</i><br><br><b>'Jenny Mustard writes with honesty and wit about the strange, mundane, and wondrous aspects of youth'</b><br>Ayşegül Savaş, author of <i>The Anthropologists</i><br><br><b>'A beautifully plangent coming-of-age novel . . . will go straight to your heart'</b><br>Lucy Caldwell, author of <i>These Days</i><br><br><b>'A timeless writer . . . reminiscent of the power and grace of writers like Rachel Cusk and Raven Leilani'</b><br>Molly Aitken, author of <i>Bright I Burn</i></h3><br><br><b>Some people move to the big city hoping to find themselves - Sickan Hermansson isn't leaving it up to chance.</b><br><br>Twenty-one, friendless, without money but not without hope, Sickan's arrival at Stockholm University represents a new start. Her lonely childhood in a small southern town has left her utterly unprepared for intimacy: for friends, for sex, for love even. But Sickan is determined to build a new version of herself from the ground up, to make up for lost time. To simply be normal.<br><br>Just as Sickan seems to be finding her first ever friends, in whose company she finally feels safe, she meets Abbe: beautiful, charming - and by some miracle he wants her too. Unlike Sickan, Abbe seems completely at ease in his own skin. A solid foundation then, on which to build a relationship? Maybe?<br><br><i>What A Time To Be Alive </i>is a story of class, sex, loneliness, and the trials of young womanhood. But above all, it's a story of firsts: the first party you're actually invited to, the first moment you fall in love, the first time you betray a friend. The first time you ask yourself, how much of myself am I willing to sacrifice, to finally fit in?<br><br><b>'Sharp, well-observed and warmly human. I hate comparing anyone to Sally Rooney, but I think that if you enjoy her writing you will, just as I did, love spending time in the company of Jenny Mustard's characters.'</b><br>Rick O'Shea, <i>Irish Independent</i></p>