My friends : a novel / Fredrik Backman ; translated by Neil Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Backman, Fredrik, 1981- author.

Contributor:

Smith, Neil (Neil Andrew), translator.

Standardized Title:

Mina vänner. English

Language:

English

Swedish

Subjects (All):

Art--Fiction.

Art.

Artists--Fiction.

Artists.

Painting--Fiction.

Painting.

Friendship--Fiction.

Friendship.

Swedish fiction--Translations into English.

Swedish fiction.

Genre:

Novels.

Psychological fiction.

Physical Description:

436 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Atria Books hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Atria Books, 2025.

Language Note:

In English, translated from the Swedish.

Summary:

"#1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, who "captures the messy essence of being human" (The Washington Post), returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a 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 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"-- Provided by publisher.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Beardwood Fund bookplate.

Related Work:

Container of: Backman, Fredrik, 1981- Mina vänner. English

ISBN:

9781982112820

1982112824

9781982112837

1982112832

OCLC:

1451661796