"A nuanced look at the uneven playing fields of friendship and love, and a moving portrait of a narrator who struggles with her eagerness to fit in, even as she embraces the novelty of her new life. Mustard is a measured and gorgeous writer, in command of the senses in a way that makes the reader feel alive alongside the characters. But what a time to be alive, sharing this human experience—and to be a reader, when this writer is at work."

– The New York Times Book Review

"This excellent novel charts Sickan’s late adolescence/very early adulthood as she navigates the challenging world of her peers, at university in Stockholm. Beautifully written.”

– The Irish Times

"What a Time to be Alive is a wise and beautiful book which captures that awkward, painful, beautiful ‘becoming’ stage of life in a very relatable and yet absolutely specific and unique way. I feel like I’ve lived a whole substantial life experience through with Sickan. I loved the attention to detail in all the images and physical sensations of the book, too. The bare feet on the parquet floor tiles, the eating tortellini while smoking, the different materials of her clothes, the cinnamon buns, the feeling of her throat after writing and drinking and being sick and screaming. Such a gorgeous book, I loved it!"

– Naomi Ishiguro, author of Common Ground and Escape Routes

"A dark coming-of-age story set in Stockholm [with] a really light touch that makes it really beautiful."

– Natasha Brown, The Times

 Early praise for What a Time to Be Alive:

"Playful and witty with her sharp prose, Mustard conveys a vivid sense of longing, and the difficulties of finding your place in the world.”

– Cecile Pin, author of Wandering Sould

"Fierce and heady—this intensely stylish novel captures the fever of youth.”

– Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of The Sleep Watcher

"Jenny writes about friendship, love, trauma and belonging in a way that’s tender and true.”

– Chloë Ashby, author of Second Self

"Jenny Mustard is that rare thing, a timeless writer, in that she writes intelligent, and elegant prose reminiscent of the power and grace of writers like Rachel Cusk and Raven Leilani.”

– Molly Aitken, author of Bright I Burn

"A beautifully plangent coming-of-age novel . . . written with an openness and a melancholy that frequently catches you off guard, and will go straight to your heart.” - Lucy Caldwell, author of These Days

"With a crisp sense of humor, Jenny Mustard explores the great themes of love, sex, friendship and freedom in a campus novel that for all its cool Swedish restraint is also suffused with a beguiling tenderness.”

– Niamh Mulvey, author of The Amendments

"A novel about innocence, curiosity, and discovery, full of the big and small questions of stepping into oneself.”

– Aysegul Savas, author of The Anthropologists

"Luminous and sharp, What a Time to Be Alive offers not only a dextrous recounting of a young woman's giddy, volatile journey in Stockholm but also an invitation for all of us to reconsider and rediscover our notions of self.”

– Yan Ge, author of Elsewhere

"Jenny Mustard has conveyed with subtlety, precision and wonderful follow-through a worldview and sensibility that is both original and recognizable. A coming-of-age without pretensions; What a Time to Be Alive offers a freshness, curiosity and authenticity that readers will want to emulate.” - Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Alternatives

"Fresh, compelling, and utterly original, this story kept surprising and delighting me.”

– Daisy Buchanan, author of Pity Party

"Tender and insightful on what it means to be young, to feel different, and to fall in love for the first time, What a Time to Be Alive is a finely wrought coming-of-age story—with a protagonist you'll want to hold very close to your heart.” - Holly Williams, author of The Start of Something

"What a Time to Be Alive is a beautifully observed story about the chaos, fear, and passion of youth. Told with deliciously sharp wit and styled to perfection by Jenny Mustard. Not a single line is wasted.”

– Scott Preston, author of The Borrowed Hills

"In What a Time to Be Alive, as in life, old questions are made new again. A fresh, tender, and resonant bildungsroman from the wonderfully large-hearted Jenny Mustard.”

– R. O. Kwon, author of Exhibit