Beartown: From the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and Anxious People

Description

A dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream and the price required to make it come true from international bestseller Fredrik Backman Beartown is a small town in a large Swedish forest. For most of the year it is under a thick blanket of snow, experiencing the kind of cold and dark that brings people closer together - or pulls them apart. Its isolation means that Beartown has been slowly shrinking with each passing year. But now the town is on the verge of an astonishing revival. A bright new future is just around the corner. Until the day it is all put in jeopardy by a single, brutal act. It divides the town into those who think it should be hushed up and forgotten, and those who'll risk the future to see justice done. At last, it falls to one young man to find the courage to speak the truth that it seems no one else wants to hear. With the town's future at stake, no one can stand by or stay silent. Everyone is on one side or the other. Which side would you be on?

Number 1 New York Times bestseller FREDRIK BACKMAN made his literary debut in 2012 with the global sensation A Man Called Ove - now a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks. Wickedly funny, touching and wise, Fredrik Backman's novels are odysseys of the ordinary man and woman, and stunningly moving tales of everyday courage. Up to now, Fredrik Backman has written seven highly acclaimed novels, two heartfelt novellas about life and love, and one non-fiction book about parenthood. His books have sold more than 18 million copies in 46 languages and the Swedish film adaption of A Man Called Ove was nominated for two Academy Awards. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.

I wasn't sure I would love a novel centred on hockey - but as with Friday Night Lights this is actually a story about people - about strength and tribal loyalty and what we unwittingly do when trying to show our boys how to be men. I utterly believed in the residents of Beartown, and felt ripped apart by the events in the book -- Jojo Moyes * bestselling author of Me Before You * Surrounded by impenetrable forests, it recreates the stifling atmosphere of a dying community. This is a mature, compassionate novel. * Sunday Times * A story about families, about friendship and loyalty, inequality, female vulnerability, male back-slapping, and parenthood ... No person's story is too little to be told, Backman includes them all. A novel with a big heart * Joenkoepings-Posten, Sweden * A kind of problem play that moves extremely skilfully near the melodramatic without derailing. Its originality is substantial and the book credibly conveys the dual faces of everyday life. An impressive novel, like no other * BTJ, Sweden * Friday Night Lights for Swedes -- O Magazine As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with ABBA and Stieg Larsson. * The New York Times Book Review * Backman is a masterful writer, his characters familiar yet distinct, flawed yet heroic. . . There are scenes that bring tears, scenes of gut-wrenching despair, and moments of sly humor. . .Like Friday Night Lights, this is about more than youth sports; it's part coming-of-age novel, part study of moral failure, and finally a chronicle of groupthink in which an unlikely hero steps forward to save more than one person from self-destruction. A thoroughly empathetic examination of the fragile human spirit, Backman's latest will resonate a long time. * Kirkus Reviews * Praise for A Man Called Ove * - * It's warm, funny, and ultimately almost unbearably moving * Daily Mail * Delightful ... the perfect holiday read * Evening Standard * A warm and tender story about love, loss and second chances, peppered with memorable characters, wonderful set pieces and some beautifully black humour. Ove is a joy from start to finish * Gavin Extence, author of The Universe versus Alex Woods * An uplifting, life-affirming and often comic tale of how kindness, love and happiness can be found in the most unlikely places * Sunday Express * Backman can tickle the funny bone and tug on the heart strings when he needs to, and is a clever enough storyteller to not overindulge in either * Independent *