Back in the Day

Back in the Day is a taut, lyrical, and utterly gripping 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 didn't 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, and 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.