The Winners From the instant international bestselling author of My Friends

While the first two Beartown books were already 5-star reads, “The Winners” touched me so profoundly that traditional ratings feel inadequate. This trilogy is pure literary art. From the start, I dreaded the foreshadowed tragedy of Benjamin “Benji” Ovich’s fate, hoping against hope for a different outcome. When that heartbreak became reality, it crushed me. While I understand why Backman made this choice and it made sense for the story, I still hated losing him - it affected me too deeply to call it perfect. What makes this trilogy extraordinary is Backman’s unparalleled character development. He brings not just one but two entire towns to life, making every single inhabitant feel real and relatable. His poetic prose and masterful word choice create something I’ve never encountered in literature before. Backman masterfully explores the vital importance of family and community throughout the series. He brilliantly demonstrates how having a family that fights for you can change everything, while also showing how a sense of community belonging can fill that same crucial role for those without traditional family support. Equally powerful is his portrayal of what happens when someone lacks both - the profound impact of isolation and not belonging. No writer captures these dynamics like Backman does. Every character receives the attention they deserve - nothing feels forgotten or left out. Despite the multiple heartbreaks throughout the series, I’m grateful to have experienced this journey. This is what literature should be: transformative, emotional, and unforgettable. A series I’ll recommend to everyone I know. Perfect in every way.

A lot of time has passed since the tragic events of Beartown. Maya Andersson and Benji Ovich have left the village to start a new life somewhere else, the rest of the inhabitants has found a way of either forgetting or ignoring. But now they are threatened by a storm and a fateful series of events brings people home, opens up old wounds and creates new ones. Beartown as its rival village of Hed will never be the same again, they all will have changed and one person’s life especially will be determined by the events of only a very short time. I have read almost all novels by Fredrik Backman and yet, I am overwhelmed each time and even though I am all but prone to extreme emotion, I can’t help crying while reading his stories. From the first two books settled in the Swedish village of Beartown, I knew what to expect from “The Winners” and was somehow prepared, but nevertheless, the author managed to trigger something in me. Maybe it is the characters who are the most normal people one can imagine, who have their good and caring sides as well as the others which would much rather be hidden. Maybe it is the setting in an unknown village somewhere in the forest which nobody has ever heard of. It is the maximum of normalcy that we encounter in this trilogy and that makes you feel at home and bond with the characters immediately. Backman’s masterful foreshadowing gives a glimpse in what is to come, it only hints at the upcoming tragedies and thus raises suspense which keeps you reading on, unable to put the book aside. You know that something really dreadful, horrible is waiting at the end and yet, just like life goes on you continue until you reach that moment where you are hit with a hammer. I am lacking the words to adequately convey what the novel did to me, to describe the experience of reading and after the last page, of leaving this wonderful story. Backman is an exceptional author and his Beartown series is an exceptional read.