Jenny Mustard

Sweden

About

Jenny Mustard is a Swedish novelist, writer, and content creator who divides her time between Sweden and London. She has built an international audience through her online work, particularly her YouTube channel, where she discusses topics including lifestyle, personal identity, and contemporary culture. Her writing has also appeared in publications such as The Observer, The Independent, Vogue, and Stylist. Mustard made her fiction debut with Okay Days (2023), a novel exploring relationships, emotional uncertainty, and the complexities of modern life. Her second novel, What a Time to Be Alive (2025), follows a young woman navigating friendship, romance, loneliness, and the challenges of fitting in at university in Stockholm. The book received attention for its thoughtful portrayal of young adulthood and was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. Through her fiction, Mustard explores the tension between the desire to belong and the need to remain true to oneself, with a particular focus on relationships, identity, and the emotional experiences of contemporary women.

Books on TheBookRoads

All genres Literary Fiction Contemporary Fiction Fiction

All themes Coming of Age

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What a Time to Be Alive

What a Time to Be Alive

What a Time to Be Alive follows twenty-one-year-old Sickan Hermansson, a young woman who arrives at Stockholm University determined to reinvent herself. After a lonely childhood in a small Swedish town, marked by social exclusion and a lack of meaningful connections, she sees university as an opportunity to experience the things she has missed: friendship, intimacy, love, and the freedom to become someone new. Just as Sickan begins to find her place among a group of friends, she meets Abbe, a charming and confident young man who seems to offer the possibility of romance and belonging. Yet navigating relationships proves more complicated than she imagined, forcing her to confront her insecurities and the compromises she is willing to make to be accepted. With sensitivity and understated humor, Jenny Mustard explores loneliness, class, sexuality, and the pressures of young womanhood. The novel captures the awkwardness and intensity of early adulthood, asking how much of ourselves we are willing to change in the pursuit of love and acceptance.

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