Read and discuss literature with our Nordic Book Club Online! Nordic Book Club meets monthly via Zoom to discuss contemporary literature in translation. On July 8, we’ll be discussing My Friends by acclaimed Swedish author Fredrik Backman, a funny and deeply moving tale about a transformative bond between four teenagers, acclaimed as a “tribute to the forces that make an ordinary life extraordinary (BookPage).”
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… A testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.
My Friends is available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download from Simon & Schuster and other retailers.
“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
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, Anxious People, The Winners, My Friends, as well as two novellas and one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Facebook and X @BackmanLand and on Instagram @Backmansk.