Beartown

Backman, Fredrik

ISBN 10: 1508249091 ISBN 13: 9781508249092

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2018

Synopsis

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with Beartown—an instant New York Times bestseller—about a forgotten town fractured by scandal, and the amateur hockey team that might just change everything.

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world. “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” (Kirkus Reviews).

About this title

Review:

As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with ABBA and Stieg Larsson. (The New York Times Book Review)

Surrounded by impenetrable forests, it recreates the stifling atmosphere of a dying community. This is a mature, compassionate novel. (Sunday Times)

Friday Night Lights for Swedes (O Magazine)

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 (Jönköpings-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)

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)

From the Back Cover:

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The Scandal tells of a terrible crime that fractures a town and all of the people in it. When the worst happens, who will have the courage to stand against everyone else?

'As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with ABBA and Stieg Larsson.' The New York Times Book Review

________

'Late one evening towards the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead and pulled the trigger.

This is the story of how we got there.'

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. Everyone can feel the excitement. 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?

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1508249091
• ISBN 13: 9781508249092
• Binding: Audio CD