Fredrik Backman

Taken hostage by a failed bank robber while attending an open house, eight anxiety-prone strangers--including a redemption-seeking bank director, two couples who would fix their marriages, and a plucky octogenarian--discover their unexpected common traits. Viewing an apartment normally doesn't turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that: a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage....

"From the author of the internationally bestselling A Man Called Ove, a charming, warmhearted novel about a young girl whose grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters, sending her on a journey that brings to life the world of her grandmother's fairy tales"--

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beartown and A Man Called Ove, hailed as "a writer of astonishing depth [with] the remarkable ability to make you understand the feelings of each of a dozen different characters" (The Washington Times), a heart-wrenching story of how loyalty, friendship, and love carry a town through its darkest days. After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow...

It's Christmas Eve morning. Years ago a man abandoned his son to pursue professional success; now he wonders if it's too late to forge a relationship with him. One week earlier, in a hospital late at night, the man met a five-year-old girl with cancer. When the man is given the chance to do something selfless that could change the destiny of the little girl in the hospital bed, he needs to find out what his own life has actually been worth in the...

Conoce a Ove. Es un cascarrabias, el tipo de hombre que señala a las personas que no le agradan como si fueran ladrones atrapados afuera de la ventana de su dormitorio. Tiene principios firmes, rutinas estrictas y poca mecha. La gente lo llama "el vecino amargado del infierno". Pero detrás del malhumorado exterior hay una historia y una tristeza. Entonces, cuando una mañana de noviembre una joven pareja conversadora con dos hijas pequeñas se mudan...

"Visitar un apartamento en venta no es una situación de vida o muerte. A menos que sea la víspera de Nochevieja, vivas en una pequeña ciudad en Suecia y alguien haya tenido la peor idea de su vida y decidido atracar un banco que no maneja efectivo. Entonces, sí lo es. Porque, cuando alguien es así de idiota, es inevitable que no sepa cómo huir y termine en un apartamento en venta tomando rehenes sin querer. Pero puedes confiar en la policía....

"Cerca del lago en Beartown hay una pista de hielo, y en la pista Kevin, Amat, Benji y el resto del. Equipo junior de hockey sobre hielo est̀ a punto de competir en la semifinal nacional; y, de hecho, tiene la oportunidad de ganar. Todos los suęos y esperanzas de este lugar descansan ahora sobre los hombros de un grupo de adolescentes. Bajo la pesada carga, el partido se convierte en la cat̀lisis de un acto violento que dejar̀ a una joven traumatizada...

Ove, a grumpy, isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing block association rules and visiting his wife's grave, decides to give up on life until an unlikely friendship develops with a boisterous young family that moves in next door.