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 husbands 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-linersbeautifully translated from the Danish by Martin Aitkenare deeply felt. Bookforum
The text shines as an honest reckoning with the death of a spousebut one in a deeply companionless marriageand 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
