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Biographical Note: -- The Nerd Daily "A heart-warming, heart-breaking gem that shines with wisdom, compassion, and humor." -- BookTrib Review Quotes: "A sweeping saga about young people, art and the way creativity connects friends and strangers across generations. . . . If you've read A Man Called Ove, you know Backman can be depended on to show how small the world is, and how fragile. He does it again here, this time with Stand by Me vibes." -- The New York Times Review Quotes: "Backman delivers a wistful story about the power of friendships. . . . The author is at the top of his game." -- Publisher s Weekly Review Quotes: Praise for Fredrik Backman "Backman captures the messy essence of being human. . . clever and affecting, as likely to make you laugh out loud as it is to make you cry." -- Washington Post "The perfect balance of heartwarming and heart-wrenching. . . Fredrik Backman has a way of simply yet elegantly describing relationships. We can all be idiots, but we're still all human beings worthy of connection and love." - NPR "Everything Backman's pen touches oozes with insight and heart." -- Amazon Book Review "Backman is a masterful writer, his characters familiar yet distinct, flawed yet heroic."-- Kirkus Reviews "As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with Abba and Stieg Larssson." -- The New York Times Book Review "Backman is the Dickens of our age, and though you'll cry, your heart is safe in his hands."-- Green Valley News (Arizona) Review Quotes: "Irrepressible humor, boundless grief, and eternal loyalty coalesce in Backman's tribute to youthful imagination and unfettered faith in art's power to heal and nurture." -- Booklist (starred review) Review Quotes: "In My Friends, Backman again pays tribute to the forces that make an ordinary life extraordinary. By focusing his tremendous empathy on the power of art and friendship, he has created a novel that celebrates the beauty of being alive." -- BookPage (starred review) Brief Description: "Most people don't even notice them-three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it's just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There's Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there's the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa's care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don't always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art"-- Publisher Marketing: #1 New York Times bestseller, more than 1 million copies sold! Winner of the 2025 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fiction * A Fallon Book Club Pick * USA TODAY Best Books of the Year * NPR Best Books of the Year * Marie Claire 25 Best Novels of the Year * BookPage Best Fiction of the Year * Real Simple Best Books of the Year * Libby Audiobook of the Year The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger's life twenty-five years later. Most people don't even notice them--three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it's just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa's care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she'll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don't always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art. Review Citations:
Contributor Bio:Backman, Fredrik |
