Through winding diary entries, A Change of Time pieces together the life of a schoolteacher after her husband, the town doctor, passes away. Set in rural Denmark in the early 20th century, the entries form an intimate portrait of a woman rebuilding her identity. Her thoughts unravel in sudden bursts, followed by quiet meditation or the rhythmic passing of each day. She writes, “Memory is like a sieve. Everything runs through it,” and indeed Ida Jessen’s prose conveys the constant feeling of falling through a sieve, grasping at each thought and gesture before they are lost. With quiet adamance, the narrator gives the reader room to think and breathe. She casts a furtive light or an unsettling silence, both attempting to find her voice and yearning for complete solitude.
Through winding diary entries, A Change of Time pieces together the life of a schoolteacher after her husband, the town doctor, passes away. Set in rural Denmark in the early 20th century, the entries form an intimate portrait of a woman rebuilding her identity. Her thoughts unravel in sudden bursts, followed by quiet meditation or the rhythmic passing of each day. She writes, “Memory is like a sieve. Everything runs through it,” and indeed Ida Jessen’s prose conveys the constant feeling of falling through a sieve, grasping at each thought and gesture before they are lost. With quiet adamance, the narrator gives the reader room to think and breathe. She casts a furtive light or an unsettling silence, both attempting to find her voice and yearning for complete solitude.