Back in the Day

Taut, lyrical and utterly gripping - a headrush of a debut novel about four boys coming of age on the deprived outskirts of OsloLast 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
What a shot in the arm: the most vivid, vital book I’ve read in ages. Equally brutal and soulful, and translated with extraordinary energy, Back in the Day is less a breath of fresh air than it is a rogue wave -- Lisa McInerney, author of 'The Glorious Heresies'
Blazingly original, both invigorating and heartbreaking, this debut blew my socks off. The language these characters speak crosses all boundaries. Oliver Lovrenski and Nicky Smalley have brought us a marvel -- and left us with hope for the future -- Daniel Wiles, author of 'Mercia's Take'
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'
Back in the Day is a powerful portrait of youth and young manhood, told with tenderness and a deep sense of duty towards its characters and the world they occupy. It’s tragic, beautiful and it catches you off-guard in the most unexpected ways -- Michael Magee, author of 'Close to Home'
I feel drawn to this book like I feel drawn to commotion. I want to lean towards it. I want to be inside it with them. With translation that reads like a friend bigging up their friend you've never met, with a fast jittering style that pushes us forward in the text, Back in the Day feels like you're actually talking to someone -- Tice Cin, author of 'Keeping the House'
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

Oliver Lovrenski (Author)Oliver Lovrenski has a Croatian background and he grew up in Norway. His debut novel, Back in the Day, was an instant number-one bestseller when it was published in Norway in 2023. It won the Oslo City Artist Prize, Norwegian Bookseller Prize (making Lovrenski the youngest winner in the prize's seventy-five-year history) and was shortlisted for the Brage Award and the Tarjei Vesaas Debut Prize. The Norwegian edition is now in its eighth print run. The English translation by Nichola Smalley will be published in hardback in 2025.

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