"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

"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