My Friends

by Fredrik Backman

Literary Fiction

Contemporary

Coming-of-Age

436 Pages

"Backman has done it again—My Friends is a deeply moving testament to how friendship saves us, how art preserves memory, and how love takes unexpected forms across time and distance."

Synopsis

Number one New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete 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 aspiring 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 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. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa's care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she'll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don't always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.

Our Take

Fredrik Backman, whose novels A Man Called Ove and Anxious People have touched millions of readers worldwide, returns with a dual-timeline story that showcases his signature blend of humor, heartbreak, and profound humanity. My Friends alternates between Louisa's contemporary journey to uncover the painting's origins and the 1990s story of four teenagers who found solace in each other during a transformative summer. Backman excels at creating characters who feel like people you know—flawed, funny, desperately trying to be okay—and making their struggles feel universal even when they're specific. The teenagers escaping difficult home lives by claiming an abandoned pier as their refuge will resonate with anyone who's ever found salvation in friendship during dark times. Louisa's quest to understand the painting becomes a meditation on how art preserves moments and emotions that would otherwise be lost, and how stories connect strangers across decades. What makes Backman's writing so effective is his ability to balance lightness and weight—he'll make you laugh on one page and cry on the next, often within the same paragraph. The prose is accessible and warm, never pretentious despite tackling big themes about belonging, trauma, and healing. The novel explores how the friends we make during formative years shape who we become, and how sometimes the kindness of strangers can redirect our entire lives. Backman doesn't shy from difficult topics—abuse, loss, the ways systems fail vulnerable kids—but he always finds hope without resorting to false optimism. Readers who loved Matt Haig's The Midnight Library or Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow will find similar emotional resonance here. For anyone seeking fiction that reminds us why connection matters, that celebrates the redemptive power of friendship and art, My Friends is Backman doing what he does best—creating stories that make us feel less alone.