by Fredrik Backman
Atria Books, 2025. 436 pages. Fiction
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. But eighteen-year-old Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures, especially after the artist bequeaths the painting to her in his will. 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. Louisa embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it.
I love how Fredrik Backman infuses compassion and gentle humor into stories that could otherwise be full of tragedy. This book is no exception. Louisa is a foster child who is trying to make it on her own. The artist and his friends have also had some equally bleak experiences. But the story of how unlikely people come together and support each other is life-affirming and moving. This is one of my very favorite Backman novels.
If you like My Friends you might also like:
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margotby Marianne Cronin
Harper, 2021. 326 pages. Fiction
Seventeen-year-old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Joining the hospital's arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel. Both are determined to leave their mark on the world. Lenni and Margot devise a plan to create one hundred paintings showcasing the stories of the century they have lived—stories of love and loss, of courage and kindness, of unexpected tenderness and pure joy.
Tom Lakeby Ann Patchett
Harper, 2023. 309 pages. Fiction
In the Spring of 2020, Lara's three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
MB
No comments:
Post a Comment