What a Time to Be Alive
Published on 7. October 2025
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-63936-981-2 (ISBN)
Description
A fresh, sensual coming of age story by a dazzlingly talented young novelist, for fans of Sally Rooney and Mieko Kawakami.
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
Some people move to the big city hoping to find themselves, but young Sickan Hermansson isn't leaving it up to chance.
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.
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?
What A Time To Be Alive is a story of class, love, 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?
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
Some people move to the big city hoping to find themselves, but young Sickan Hermansson isn't leaving it up to chance.
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.
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?
What A Time To Be Alive is a story of class, love, 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?
More details
Language
English
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
431 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-63936-981-2 (9781639369812)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jenny Mustard is a Swedish novelist who lives in London. She has over 600,000 social media followers, and more than 50 million views on YouTube. Jenny and her work have featured in the Observer (London), the Independent, and Vogue. Her debut novel, Okay Days, was published in 2023, but What a Time to Be Alive is her first book to be published in America.