Back in the Day
Oliver Lovrenski author Nichola Smalley translator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Publishing:17th Apr '25
£14.99
This title is due to be published on 17th April, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Taut, lyrical and utterly gripping - a headrush of a debut novel about four boys coming of age on the deprived outskirts of Oslo
Last night i got woke up by marco ringing, and he was crying, he said, he died ivor, he died, and i didnt need to hear who to know, i just hung up.
Ivor and Marco have been getting high since they were thirteen, started dealing at fourteen, by fifteen they were carrying knives. At sixteen years old, they hurtle from one trip to the next, one fight to the next, always watching their backs. Ivor dreams of getting out - finishing school, becoming a lawyer, marrying the girl he loves from the corner shop - but the path he's on only leads one way.
In flashes of firecracker prose, shot through with rare empathy, irrepressible wit and gut-punch pathos, Oliver Lovrenski gives voice to young men growing up in a brutal and chaotic world.
Gripping from the very first sentence. This kind of debut only arrives once a decade * Dagsavisen *
An urgent rush of a novel, rhythmic and raw, [about] four boys becoming men in Oslo amid bad choices and worse circumstances. It reminded me of La Haine… A deeply absorbing picture of friendship & chaos, tenderness & pain -- David Hayden, author of 'Darker with the Lights On'
Phenomenal. Nerve-wracking, unflinching and supremely entertaining… When literature is great, it opens doors to worlds, languages and people we often find difficult to understand. Oliver Lovrenski does this with a bang... [Back in the Day] can and should be read again and again * Soundvenue *
Crystal clear in thought and writing - simply a sensationally good debut * Aftenposten *
Raw and fascinating, [with] a vulnerability and insistent vitality that shines through… Pure energy, humour, hope * Jyllands-Posten *
ISBN: 9780241705834
Dimensions: 204mm x 132mm x 25mm
Weight: 500g
240 pages