“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.”<br /> <b>—<i>Publishers Weekly</i> (starred review)</b><br /><br /> “An engaging, honest, and beautifully written look at love, loss, and self-realization.”<br /> <b>—<i>Kirkus Reviews</i></b><i><br /><br /> </i>“In <i>A Change of Time</i>, 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.”<br /> <b>—<i>Bookforum</i></b><i><br /><br /> </i>“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.”<br /> <b>—<i>The Millions</i></b><i><br /><br /> </i>“<i>A Change of Time</i> 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.”<br /> <b>—Anne Michaels, author of <i>Fugitive Pieces</i></b><br /><br /> “A masterful psychological portrait of an individual, who is set free into a new era, after many years of great loneliness.”<br /> <b>—Jury of the Danish Writers Association's Blixen Award for <i>A Change of Time</i></b><br /><br /> “A successful portrait of a widow and her coming freedom. Ida Jessen is sensible and solid in her historical novel <i>A Change in Time</i>.”<br /> <b>—Mikkel Krause Frantzen, <i>Politiken</i></b><br /><br /> “One rejoices at how clearly and precisely the book is written.”<br /> <b>—<i>Dagbladet Information</i></b><br /><br /> “Once again, Ida Jessen has succeeded in creating a small masterpiece.”<b><i> </i></b><br /> <b>—<i>Weekendavisen<br /><br /> </i></b>“Set in a rural Danish village in the early 20th century, <i>A Change of Time</i> 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.”<br /> <b>—Radz Pandit,<i> Rhadika's Reading Retreat</i></b>