Friends are people who either you choose to have in your life or who choose to be in yours. They want to be part of your life—hopefully for a long time, though that’s incidental. We become friends with people we "click" with—someone we genuinely want around, or someone who chooses us unconditionally. Ideally, this desire to be in each other's lives forms the foundation of a true bond, however long or short it may last.
What leaves a lasting, often irremovable mark is not always the length of the friendship, but the memory of that person. Often, these friendships go beyond the ordinary. They tread—and sometimes cross—the fine line into love. And when that love is mutual, it becomes one of life’s greatest feelings: a deep, enduring bond that stays with you, regardless of whether the person remains in your life or not.
In MY FRIENDS, author Fredrik Backman pens an emotionally resonant story where the emotional depth cannot be overlooked. The plot centers around a world-famous painting—an image of the painter’s friends by the sea on a summer day. The reader is introduced to the painting, its now-renowned artist, and its significance through Louisa, a teenage aspiring painter.
Louisa encounters the famous painter in an alley behind an art gallery, initially mistaking him for a homeless man. Their poignant conversation becomes a turning point for her, and the painter later tells his agent about the encounter. This moment transforms the life of runaway teenager Louisa, and through it, the reader learns the story behind the painting, the painter, and his friends.
MY FRIENDS is a moving exploration of friendship taken to its emotional limits. It’s a story about the profound love shared between friends, and how such bonds can endure—even beyond death.
If you believe in the magic of true friendship or have a lifelong friend of your own, this story will stir every emotion you’ve ever felt. It may even make you nostalgic—and perhaps inspire you to reconnect with an old friend you’ve lost touch with.
A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Goodreads •USA TODAY • Marie Claire • BookPage • Literary Lifestyle •Book Riot •Sunset Magazine • Totally Booked with Zibby Owens
#1 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.
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