Us Against You - Hardcover

Fredrik Backman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0718186591 ISBN 13: 9780718186593

Publisher: Atria Books, 2018

Synopsis

Can a broken town survive a second tragedy? The follow-up to the international bestseller Beartown.

A small, broken town sits on the edge of a frozen lake surrounded by a forest, its wounds still raw from a tragedy that tore its fragile community in two.

Beartown has lost its way. Now the cold and dark that surround the snowbound town creep in, and so do new conflicts and tensions. What was once a friendly rivalry with the neighbouring town is beginning to turn sinister and Beartown braces itself for another tragic blow.

How far will the people of Beartown go to preserve their reputations for a second, deadly time?

Us Against You is a spell-binding exposition of small-town life in all its flawed complexity.

About this title

About the Author

Fredrik Backman is the number one New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (in development as a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks), My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises, Britt-Marie Was Here, and Beartown, which is being adapted for TV by the team behind The Bridge. His books are published in more than forty countries and have sold over ten million copies. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.

Review

Evident in all [Backman] novels is an apparent ability to state a truth about humanity with breathtaking elegance * Kirkus Reviews * Backman is the Dickens of our age, and though you'll cry, your heart is safe in his hands * Green Valley News, Arizona * A light hearted, deeply moving novel about a grumpy but loveable curmudgeon who finds his solitary world * CBS Local * Mr. Backman cements his standing as a writer of astonishing depth and proves that he also has very broad range plus the remarkable ability to make you understand the feelings of each of a dozen different characters. . . . The story is fully packed with wise insights into the human experience causing characters and readers to ponder life's great question of who we are, what we hope to be and how we should lead our lives * The Washington Times * Backman's ability to tell stories in pictures is one of his strongest merits, not least how he describes relationships . . . It's rare that one cares about so many characters in a book, and seldom that one comes so close to a whole community. But the leading role in Backman's novels about Beartown is, after all, played by the sports community. It's a love declaration of the highest order * Goeteborgs-Posten, Sweden * Fredrik Backman writes wonderfully about men, with a love and understanding for the ones who would rather solve conflicts with their fists. It's hard not to love it * Dagens Nyheter, Sweden * A brilliant sequel . . . Backman writes about loyalty and love, but also captures the feelings of athletes in a vibrant way * Skaraborgs Allehanda, Sweden * Backman knows how to construct a thrilling plot, and what he writes engages . . . And when he hits his stride among the emotions, the sentimental turns into an asset - like a hockey puck straight to the heart * Landskrona Posten, Sweden * It's obvious that Fredrik Backman loves sports and no one is as good at evoking feelings as he is. You are thrown between laughter and tears in the space of one sentence to the next. At the same time, this might be his most earnest and serious, if you can understand what I mean, novel to date. It takes an even bigger grip on the world than the previous novel in the series did. Now we can only wait for the next chapter * Varmlands Folkblad, Sweden * Praise for Beartown * : * 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 * Surrounded by impenetrable forests, it recreates the stifling atmosphere of a dying community. This is a mature, compassionate novel * The Sunday Times * '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 *

Edition details

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0718186591
• ISBN 13: 9780718186593
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 436