Oliver Lovrenski

Nichola Smalley

Vivid, mordant, fleet-footed . . . A markedly different debut to the millennial ennui that we currently see too often. Oliver Lovrenski is a gifted writer

The energy and richness of this novel would be impressive even if Oliver Lovrenski hadn’t been only 19 years old when he wrote it... Amid the intensity of young male friendship, there’s love, family loyalty and vulnerability

Guardian, 'Best Recent Translated Fiction'

A gut punch of a debut [in] hurricane prose . . . At its heart is a tight-knit, multilingual, multicultural crew, their unofficial ringleader the wisecracking Marco, originally from Somalia . . . They are "roadmen": drug-running, Gucci-wearing, Maccie-D-loving, pumped up, shot down, overdosed, full of bravado and frightened. Back in the Day is funny, furious and despondent . . . Vital because of its sheer originality, its splicing of cultures

Raw and unfiltered, it reads like a journal, capturing the fierce bond between young men struggling to survive, finding both refuge and recklessness in their friendship. But are these friendships their salvation or their downfall? I was hooked from the very first page

The teenage narrator of this jagged novel is bright, loyal to his friends, self-destructive and, after the death of his beloved grandmother, is sinking rapidly into a drug-addled life of kicks, stabbings and violent crime . . . This is an exercise in literary adrenaline (you can gulp it down in one sitting) . . . Its immersive brio is hard to shake off

'Norway’s Trainspotting... A deep dive into the chaos, terror, and black humour of teenagers locked in a cycle of deprivation... This bleak tale, told with brio, offers a fresh take on what it is to be young in an environment where a positive future is but a dream

Witty and perceptive, Back in the Day confirms [Oliver Lovrenski] as one of his country’s most exciting young writers . . . A story of brotherhood, gang culture and migrant life [and] a streetwise, restless teenager who forays further and further into a subculture of drugs and gang violence… Ivor, Marco, Jonas and Arjan serve as each other’s only male role models, but—with tragic irony—their loyalty to each other keeps them trapped in a cycle of threat and retribution

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

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

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

Gripping from the very first sentence. This kind of debut only arrives once a decade

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

Irresistible, unrelenting and real . . . Back in the Day is La Haine and Trainspotting, it is the myth and the truth of the fringes

Crystal clear in thought and writing - simply a sensationally good debut

A stunningly stylish and superb debut novel… Breathless, nostalgic [and] unflinching. A novel that can and should be read again and again

If you think all creative forms of expression have been tried in literature, a book like Back in the Day will shatter your assumptions. [An] explosive debut, both painful and refreshing

Raw and fascinating, [with] a vulnerability and insistent vitality that shines through… Pure energy, humour, hope

A fragmentary novel of stunning intensity

A fusion of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road… More than anything, Back in the Day is a prototype of what literature will look like in the future

I can’t recall seeing a debut receive the kind of attention that Oliver Lovrenski has garnered in a very, very long time. And it’s completely deserved . . . What a scorcher of a debut novel! The 19-year-old Lovrenski has burst onto the scene and into the hearts of readers with tremendous force

A thunderous debut from the edge of the abyss . . . An exceptionally exciting debut from a remarkable talent

Astonishingly precise, elegant, rhapsodic

Effortless [and] profound, Back in the Day is a fireworks display . . . An incredible energy emanates from the writing

Inspired by Lovrenski’s own life, Back in the Day is humorous, tender and heartfelt . . . It’s a novel that’s hard to put down and hard to forget. A novel you simply fall in love with

A linguistically brilliant and long-lasting insight into a hidden world

Intense and resonant, unconventional and impressive

Oliver Lovrenski writes compellingly, casually and lyrically at the same time

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.

Oliver Lovrenski

Praise for Back in the Day

Vivid, mordant, fleet-footed . . . A markedly different debut to the millennial ennui that we currently see too often. Oliver Lovrenski is a gifted writer

The energy and richness of this novel would be impressive even if Oliver Lovrenski hadn’t been only 19 years old when he wrote it... Amid the intensity of young male friendship, there’s love, family loyalty a ...

A gut punch of a debut [in] hurricane prose . . . At its heart is a tight-knit, multilingual, multicultural crew, their unofficial ringleader the wisecracking Marco, originally from Somalia . . . They are "ro ...

Vivid, mordant, fleet-footed . . . A markedly different debut to the millennial ennui that we currently see too often. Oliver Lovrenski is a gifted writer

The energy and richness of this novel would be impressive even if Oliver Lovrenski hadn’t been only 19 years old when he wrote it... Amid the intensity of young male friendship, there’s love, family loyalty a ...

A gut punch of a debut [in] hurricane prose . . . At its heart is a tight-knit, multilingual, multicultural crew, their unofficial ringleader the wisecracking Marco, originally from Somalia . . . They are "ro ...

Vivid, mordant, fleet-footed . . . A markedly different debut to the millennial ennui that we currently see too often. Oliver Lovrenski is a gifted writer

The energy and richness of this novel would be impressive even if Oliver Lovrenski hadn’t been only 19 years old when he wrote it... Amid the intensity of young male friendship, there’s love, family loyalty a ...

A gut punch of a debut [in] hurricane prose . . . At its heart is a tight-knit, multilingual, multicultural crew, their unofficial ringleader the wisecracking Marco, originally from Somalia . . . They are "ro ...

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter