The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and
Beartown returns with an unforgettable novel "about people--about
strength and tribal loyalty and what we unwittingly do when trying to
show our boys how to be men" (Jojo Moyes).
Have you ever seen a town fall? Ours did.
Have you ever seen a town rise? Ours did that, too.
A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough,
hardworking people who don't expect life to be easy or fair. No matter
how difficult times get, they've always been able to take pride in their
local ice hockey team. So it's a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown
ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious
satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a
rival team in the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. As the
tension mounts between the two adversaries, a newcomer arrives who gives
Beartown hockey a surprising new coach and a chance at a comeback.
Soon a team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you'll
ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; always dutiful and
eager-to-please Bobo; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But
bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are
broken, new ones are formed, and the town's enmity with Hed grows more
and more acute.
As the big game approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents
between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt intensifies.
By the time the last goal is scored, a resident of Beartown will be
dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after
everything, the game they love can ever return to something as simple
and innocent as a field of ice, two nets, and two teams. Us against you.
Here is a declaration of love for all the big and small, bright and dark
stories that give form and color to our communities. With immense
compassion and insight, Fredrik Backman--"the Dickens of our age"
(Green Valley News)--reveals how loyalty, friendship, and kindness can
carry a town through its most challenging days.
