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Okay Days

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What to expect

A smart, sexy and spiky modern love story, from debut novelist and influencer Jenny Mustard

Sam is 28, Swedish and spending the summer in London, working for a top marketing agency. Over the course of the sticky summer months, she falls hard for Lucas, a man she first met as a teenager. Lucas is working at a boutique clothing store whilst trying to get a foot on the corporate ladder, and struggling to hold the pieces of his life together. Sam is a gorgeous distraction. But you can only avoid reality for so long, and both Sam and Lucas know their relationship can't last. Nobody can be this happy forever, surely?

Okay Days tells the story of the rise and fall of Sam and Lucas's affection for each other, looks unflinchingly at male body dysmorphia and women's reproductive rights, and the pitfalls of modern love. When is okay good enough? And what are we willing to lose in the search for a life that is much better than just okay?

(P) 2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critics Review

Reading Okay Days is like drinking the ideal lime cordial, sweetness clarified by sharpness.
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Harmless Like You
A beautifully observed portrait of self-discovery and uncertain love. Jenny's sharp and evocative prose gave me a feeling of immense nostalgia for London's long summer days
Natasha Brown, author of Assembly
Tender and spell-binding, Okay Days breaks you all the way open
Annie Lord, author of Notes on Heartbreak
A razor-sharp debut . . . exploring contemporary issues through the relationship of two characters that felt viscerally real . . . Jenny Mustard where have you been hiding? This debut is nothing short of brilliant, a love story that is achingly contemporary and will no doubt be relatable for so many readers . . . the perfect balance of humour, observation, hope and vulnerability, the anxiety of finding yourself and the constant need for more . . . Loved it
Glamour
Reminiscent of Sally Rooney . . . a complex and joyous ode to being in love, messing up and finding your way
Stylist
A literary version of the Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy film Before Sunrise . . . a sweetly awkward romance
Irish Independent
Jenny Mustard's debut, Okay Days, is an intimate drama of what matters in stories: relationships. Mustard is a talented portraitist in whose hands these two characters become real, enthralling, and viscerally realized. It is one of the most entertaining novels I have read of the times we live in.
Chigozie Obioma, author of An Orchestra of Minorities
Jenny Mustard's writing is fresh and sharply observant. A writer full of insights on the human condition and relationships, I loved the off-kilter tone, and clever shifts in perspective between Lucas and Sam. Mustard is definitely reminiscent of Sally Rooney and Naoise Dolan but Okay Days is ultimately a slice of a new writer. She has her very own original rhythms; a smart eye for detail and compelling insights into love and life. One of the most intriguing books I've read in some time.
Elaine Feeney, author of As You Were
A beautiful, bruising novel about love, sex and finding your place in the world. Okay Days is tender and humorous and ultimately uplifting. Sam and Lucas are unforgettable. Simply brilliant.
Molly Aitken, author of The Island Child
I absolutely loved Okay Days. It's so sharp and witty, and the relationship between Sam and Lucas is real in its complexity. With compassion, Jenny captures something raw and true, in beautiful, sparse prose
Haleh Agar, author of Out of Touch
Okay Days is an achingly beautiful modern love story. Smart, dazzling and arrestingly original, Mustard is a blazing new writer who dares to limber up before gifting a blistering vision of what it means to be human. A thought that echoes through is: will okay ever be good enough? And with each chapter, a fresh and deep meaning rises. It is a searching and tender tale. I loved it.
Maxine Mei-Fung Chung, author of What Women Want
I adored spending time with Sam and Luc, separately and together, and found my thoughts straying to them when away from the page. Okay Days is charming and clever and somehow manages to be both warm and affectionate and coolly detached. Bravo, Jenny Mustard, I eagerly await whatever comes next
Chloë Ashby, author of Wet Paint
As fresh as a spring morning. Naoise Dolan vibes. Witty, observant, stylish, tender, sharp, and delightful
Will Dean, author of First Born
A delicious mix of sweet and salt, ennui and excitement, Okay Days crystallises something essential about the Millennial zeitgeist that will be devoured by fans of Sally Rooney and Naoise Dolan. This debut is so much more than just okay
Helen Cullen, author of The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually
I'm obsessed by Okay Days. A gorgeous, twenty-first-century London love story: intelligent, honest and moving
Huma Qureshi, author of Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love
A truly wonderful novel which I absolutely tore through. Sexy, tender and so intelligent on its navigation of modern life. I adored it! With clear-eyed prose and laser focus, Okay Days is a rare thing. Both a love story with the intimate quality of the overheard and a modern parable of how we find meaning amidst a culture of transience
Wiz Wharton, author of Ghost Girl, Banana
A thoroughly modern love story. Characters you know intimately, maybe you've slept with, but have never seen on the page. And very readable - I finished it in a day. Fresh, sexy, spiky, and very special. If you liked Normal People, you'll love Okay Days
Abigail Tarttelin, author of Dead Girls
Jenny Mustard has crafted characters and prose that bristle and sparkle on the page. Sam and Luc are so real to me now that they still live on inside my head, long after I closed the book. A fantastic debut from a promising literary talent.
Nick Bradley, author of The Cat and The City
With dreamy descriptions and a Sally Rooney-esque vibe, Okay Days is an ode to figuring life out as you go
Closer
Emotionally realistic . . . desperately romantic. Simply brilliant
Irish Independent
Mustard's debut is a charming indie love story with a highly contemporary message at its heart . . . Okay Days is a perfect Millennial love story to be filed alongside Sally Rooney and Naoise Dolan. This is romance with a sharp dash of bitters. And with its acidic dialogue and languid sex scenes, I wouldn't be surprised to see it adapted for the screen. A charming and clever romance, a perfect summer read.
Irish Times
Okay Days is an effervescent novel that distils precisely the aches and shifts of modern love - reading it feels like an act of tenderness and intimacy that lingers long after the last page
Ela Lee, author of Jaded
Beautiful . . . So tender, with so many gorgeous details. I'm always in awe of writers who are able to draw out our quietest, most complicated modern feelings in such a sensitive way
Harriet Constable, author of The Instrumentalist
So smart and insightful on the quiet dynamics of relationships, in crisp, perfectly paced prose
Miranda Pountney, author of How To Be Somebody Else
Okay Days is an immersive deep dive into lust, love and London. It's not often a book can so totally immerse you in its universe but I felt like I could see, hear, smell and taste every moment. This novel gives a raw and relatable account of the white-knuckle ride that is navigating a relationship in your late 20s and we can all learn something from it.
Emily Slapper, author of Everyone I Know Is Dying
Author Jenny Mustard
Narrator David Wayman, Kaisa Hammarlund
Duration 8 hours and 25 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781399713481
Format x-book®
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Genre Family life fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Love and relationships
Availability AU, GB, IE, US

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