Change of Time

Ida Jessen is the author of A Change of Time (En Ny Tid), which received the Blixen Prize and Danish Radio's Best Novel Prize, as well as several bestselling and award-winning novels. A member of the Danish Academy, she is known as a master of psychological realism. She has also translated the work of Marilynne Robinson and Alice Munro into Danish. About the translator: Martin Aitken is the acclaimed translator of numerous novels from Danish and Norwegian, including works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Hanne Ørstavik, Peter Høeg, Jussi Adler-Olsen, and Pia Juul, and his translations of short stories and poetry have appeared in many literary journals and magazines. In 2012 he was awarded the American-Scandinavian Foundation's Nadia Christensen Translation Prize.

“Jessen is a talented and empathetic writer (and kudos must be given to translator Aitken, whose translation is supple and luminous), and has imbued a quiet story about a woman finding herself after her husband’s death with poignancy and stunning humanity.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)“An engaging, honest, and beautifully written look at love, loss, and self-realization.”—Kirkus Reviews“In A Change of Time, Ida Jessen has crafted a masterpiece of the epistolary novel told in diary entries. Each log is rich with detail ... Here, one-liners—beautifully translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken—are deeply felt.”—Bookforum“The text shines as an honest reckoning with the death of a spouse—but one in a deeply companionless marriage—and the life of two people who shared little but space ... Jessen, the Danish translator of Marilynne Robinson, among others, proves to have a keen Robinsonian streak of her own. She writes with the same narrative generosity, the same belief in the dignity and voice of characters that might usually be dismissed.”—The Millions“A Change of Time is a book of masterful restraint, and this restraint is a kind of tenderness. It is a book that understands that desire permeates everything - nothing human can be be cleansed of it; and that sometimes love clings most inextricably to the smallest places - misjudgment, invisibility, loneliness. It is a book that deepens and dignifies both our innocence and our fallibility.”—Anne Michaels, author of Fugitive Pieces“A masterful psychological portrait of an individual, who is set free into a new era, after many years of great loneliness.”—Jury of the Danish Writers Association's Blixen Award for A Change of Time“A successful portrait of a widow and her coming freedom. Ida Jessen is sensible and solid in her historical novel A Change in Time.”—Mikkel Krause Frantzen, Politiken“One rejoices at how clearly and precisely the book is written.”—Dagbladet Information“Once again, Ida Jessen has succeeded in creating a small masterpiece.” —Weekendavisen“Set in a rural Danish village in the early 20th century, A Change of Time is a beautiful, quiet and reflective novel told through the diary entries of a schoolteacher called Frau Bagge . . . The novel charts her response to [her husband's] death and her attempts to build herself a new life, find herself a new place and identity and discover meaning in life again. An exquisitely written novel.”—Radz Pandit, Rhadika's Reading Retreat