When we were less

They are young, full of anxiety, pills, hope and love. They don’t get on with their parents, they hate the police and social services are failing them. Ivor and his best friends, Marco, Jonas and Arjan, are sixteen years old, live in the middle of Oslo and are falling deeper and deeper into a world of drugs, violence and crime. They try to satisfy their longing for a lost sense of security by dealing soft drugs. A sense of brotherly belonging and a sincere effort not to disappoint the last family members who haven't yet turned their backs on them replace their inadequate integration into society.

This intense and raw novel by the nineteen-year-old author is written in a vivid and captivatingly rhythmic language. It became a sensation in Norway, won several literary awards and has been translated into fifteen languages.

Oliver Lovrenski (2003) is a Norwegian writer with Croatian roots. His debut novel, When We Were Just a Little Less, appeared on most Norwegian best books of 2023 lists, and for it, Lovrenski became the youngest author in history to win the Norwegian Booksellers' Prize.