My Friends

The beautiful new novel that will make you laugh and cry, from the global bestselling author of Anxious People and A Man Called Ove.

‘A stunning, sweeping, extraordinary story of connection, love, and the unbreakable bonds that guide and shape us. Full of humour and heart, My Friends is simply wonderful’ Chris Whitaker

* AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *
* WINNER OF GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR BEST FICTION 2025 *
* SHORTLISTED FOR AMAZON'S BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2025 *
* AN AUDIBLE BEST LISTEN OF 2025 *
* A BARNES AND NOBLE NATIONAL BOOK CLUB PICK *

You have to take life for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings and
water balloons and another person’s breath against your neck. That’s the only courageous thing a person can do.

In the corner of a world-famous painting, three tiny figures sit on the end of a pier, a secret hidden in plain sight.

Twenty-five years ago, a group of teenagers found solace in each other during one unforgettable summer. Their friendship inspired a transcendent work of art, a painting that now mysteriously belongs to eighteen-year-old aspiring artist Louisa.

Driven to learn the story behind its creation, Louisa embarks on a journey to the seaside town where it all began. But as she gets closer to the painting’s birthplace, Louisa learns that happy endings do not always take the form we expect.

Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, Anxious People, The Winners, and My Friends, as well as two novellas and one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Facebook and X @BackmanLand and on Instagram @Backmansk.

?PRAISE FOR FREDRIK BACKMAN

‘A good read… it might make you cry’ BEST

‘This moving story explores the power of friendship’ WOMAN & HOME BOOKCLUB

‘A surefooted insight into the absurdity, beauty and ache of life’ GUARDIAN

‘A mature, compassionate novel’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Warm, funny, and almost unbearably moving’ DAILY MAIL

‘A stunning, sweeping, extraordinary story of connection, love, and the unbreakable bonds that guide and shape us. Full of humour and heart, My Friends is simply wonderful’ CHRIS WHITAKER

‘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

‘A brilliant and comforting read’ MATT HAIG

‘Funny, compassionate and wise. An absolute joy’ A. J. PEARCE

‘A stunning read that plunges you into another world. Backman writes with incredible sensitivity and insight. Every one of the characters is real and multi- faceted, having you breathlessly turning the pages, following their fears and hopes, fretting for their futures. This is storytelling at its best: emotional, vivid, wise and utterly brilliant’ HAZEL PRIOR

‘It’s the most enchanting, beautiful tale’ BEN FOGLE

‘Funny, sad, clever, insightful, surprising and hopeful. Brilliant in every way’ SARAH MORGAN

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is a deeply emotional novel about friendship, grief, art, and the lasting impact people can have on one another. Told through two intertwined timelines, the story explores how a single painting connects strangers across generations and reveals that the greatest masterpieces are often created not with paint alone, but through love, sacrifice, and shared memories. As with many of Backman's novels, the plot is filled with humor, heartbreak, and unforgettable characters who discover hope in unexpected places.

The story begins with Louisa, a lonely teenage girl who has spent much of her life moving through the foster care system after losing her parents. She has recently suffered another devastating loss when her closest friend, Fish, dies from a drug overdose. Feeling isolated and angry at the world, Louisa finds comfort in graffiti art and believes that creativity is one of the few ways people can leave something meaningful behind. One day she sneaks into an exclusive art auction where a world-famous painting called The One of the Sea is about to be sold for an enormous amount of money. While wealthy collectors admire its financial value, Louisa believes they completely misunderstand the painting's true meaning.

As chaos erupts at the auction, Louisa unexpectedly meets an elderly man who appears to be homeless. The two instantly connect through their shared love of art, and together they briefly create graffiti before the man is arrested. Only afterward does Louisa realize that the stranger was actually the famous artist who painted The One of the Sea. The encounter is brief because the artist is seriously ill and soon dies, but before his death he sets events in motion that will forever change Louisa's life.

Louisa soon meets Ted, a quiet middle-aged man who once knew the artist personally. Although reluctant at first, Ted agrees to take Louisa on a journey across Sweden to fulfill the artist's final wish and scatter his ashes in a place that held special meaning during his youth. As they travel together by train, Ted slowly tells Louisa the remarkable story hidden behind the famous painting. Through his memories, the novel shifts back twenty-five years to the summer when four troubled teenagers formed an unbreakable friendship that would shape all of their futures.

The four friends are Ted, Joar, Ali, and a quiet, extraordinarily gifted boy known simply as "the Artist," whose childhood nickname is Kimkim. Each of them comes from a difficult background. Some live with abusive parents, others struggle with poverty, neglect, loneliness, or broken families. Despite their hardships, they find comfort in one another's company. Every day they gather on an abandoned pier overlooking the sea, a place where they feel safe from the problems waiting at home. Their friendship becomes a kind of family built not through blood but through loyalty and understanding.

Among the four friends, Kimkim possesses an extraordinary talent for painting. Although he rarely speaks about his feelings, he sees beauty where others see only ordinary life. Encouraged by his friends and by a former art student named Christian, who recognizes his remarkable gift, Kimkim creates a painting inspired by their afternoons together on the pier. While most people later believe the artwork is simply a breathtaking seascape, its true subject is something much deeper. The sea is only the background. The real focus is the friendship shared by the four teenagers and the brief moments when they were free from fear and loneliness.

The novel also explores the personal struggles faced by each friend. Joar lives with an abusive father and secretly plans to kill him to protect his mother. His anger hides a deeply compassionate heart that wants nothing more than to end the violence in his home. Ali brings warmth and humor to the group while quietly carrying her own emotional burdens. Ted often doubts himself but treasures his friendships more than anything else. Together they support Kimkim's artistic dream, believing in his talent long before the rest of the world notices it. Their faith in one another becomes the foundation upon which the famous painting is created.

As the summer unfolds, tragedy touches each of their lives. Dreams are interrupted, relationships are tested, and heartbreaking losses remind the friends that happiness can disappear without warning. Yet even in moments of sorrow, they continue protecting one another with fierce loyalty. Backman shows that true friendship is not about solving every problem but about standing beside someone even when life becomes unbearable. The memories they create together become more valuable than success, fame, or recognition.

Meanwhile, Louisa's journey with Ted gradually changes both of them. At first they seem like complete opposites, separated by age and experience. However, both understand grief and know what it means to lose people they love. As Ted shares stories about his childhood friends, Louisa begins seeing herself reflected in them. Their conversations help her process the pain of losing Fish while encouraging Ted to revisit memories he has avoided for years. The trip becomes not only a mission to honor an old friend but also an opportunity for healing.

As the truth behind The One of the Sea becomes clear, Louisa realizes that the painting's greatest value has never been its enormous price or its fame in museums. Its real importance lies in preserving a fleeting moment when four vulnerable teenagers found happiness together despite the hardships surrounding them. The painting reminds her that art can protect memories from being forgotten and can keep people alive in the hearts of those who never even met them. Inspired by Kimkim's legacy, Louisa embraces her own artistic abilities and begins imagining a future she had previously believed impossible. Ted also finds renewed purpose, finally allowing himself to reconnect with life after years of carrying grief in silence.

By the novel's conclusion, the journey has transformed everyone involved. The artist's final wish is fulfilled, old wounds begin to heal, and new friendships emerge from old ones. Louisa discovers that family is not always defined by biology, while Ted realizes that the people we love never truly disappear as long as their stories continue to be told. My Friends ultimately celebrates compassion, resilience, creativity, and the extraordinary power of human connection. Fredrik Backman delivers a moving reminder that the people who stand beside us during life's hardest moments often become the greatest works of art we will ever know.