The Winners

by Fredrik Backman

Overview

A breathtaking new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People and A Man Called Ove, The Winners returns to the close-knit, resilient community of Beartown for a story about first loves, second chances, and last goodbyes.

Over the course of two weeks, everything in Beartown will change.

Maya Andersson and Benji Ovich, two young people who left in search of a life far from the forest town, come home and joyfully reunite with their closest childhood friends. There is a new sense of optimism and purpose in the town, embodied in the impressive new ice rink that has been built down by the lake.

Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The destruction caused by a ferocious late-summer storm reignites the old rivalry between Beartown and the neighboring town of Hed, a rivalry which has always been fought through their ice hockey teams.

Maya’s parents, Peter and Kira, are caught up in an investigation of the hockey club’s murky finances, and Amat—once the star of the Beartown team—has lost his way after an injury and a failed attempt to get drafted into the NHL. Simmering tensions between the two towns turn into acts of intimidation and then violence. All the while, a fourteen-year-old boy grows increasingly alienated from this hockey-obsessed community and is determined to take revenge on the people he holds responsible for his beloved sister’s death. He has a pistol and a plan that will leave Beartown with a loss that is almost more that it can stand.

As it beautifully captures all the complexities of daily life and explores questions of friendship, loyalty, loss, and identity, this emotion-packed novel asks us to reconsider what it means to win, what it means to lose, and what it means to forgive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982112790
Publisher:	Atria Books
Publication date:	09/27/2022
Series:	Beartown Series
Pages:	688
Sales rank:	1,183
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

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, and Anxious People, 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 Twitter @BackmanLand and on Instagram @Backmansk.

Editorial Reviews

09/12/2022

Backman (Anxious People) wraps up his Beartown trilogy with the satisfying if overlong tale of two small towns and their inhabitants’ traumas and rivalries. After a storm collapses the roof of the hockey rink in Hed, the town’s club must share the rink in Beartown, stoking long-held resentments between the clubs. To make matters worse, the editor of Beartown’s newspaper discovers someone from Beartown’s club is embezzling tax revenue. Meanwhile, after 14-year-old Matteo’s older sister dies from a drug overdose, Matteo grows increasingly bitter toward the people from the two towns, who show little regard for his family’s problems, and he eventually becomes violent. Backman’s narration often feels heavy-handed, and his aphorisms alternate from opaque to obvious (“Guilt is stronger than logic”; “In hockey we know who the winners are, because winners win”). Moreover, many of the chapter-length asides are entirely too aside and lead nowhere. The tension, however, remains palpable after a former hockey player returns to Beartown and everyone assumes he’s out to settle a score, and a series of threats escalate into explosive violence and a painful resolution. This will do the trick for insatiable Beartown fans, though others can take a pass. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Backman leaves no emotion unturned, sweeping up the reader in riveting family dramas that jump the boundaries of hockey-town rivalries. Another winner.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Fredrik Backman is known for his engrossing page-turners, and his latest novel follows suit...A story of revenge, loss, and forgiveness.” –Woman’s World

"Beartown has been the backdrop to some of the darkest dramas of the human heart, but there are still more secrets, rivalries and resentments to contend with in this final installment." —Bookpage

"[A] dramatic and highly satisfying novel, building on themes introduced in the first two books and brilliantly drawing the reader deeply into the story. The translation is nimble and idiomatic, perfectly conveying Backman’s love of language and his wonderful sense of humor. If this really is the last Beartown novel, it’s a hell of a conclusion to an outstanding series" —Booklist, starred review

“Everything Backman’s pen touches oozes with insight and heart. The Winners is sure to be another winner.” —Amazon Book Review

“An often dark, moving story...The book, which works as a standalone read, begins with a devastating storm that leaves a path of destruction in its wake, adding heat to the simmering rivalry between Beartown and the nearby, less-prosperous town of Hed. It’s a world full of both conflict and kindness, where, as the narrator notes, ‘sport is about much more than sport.’” —AARP.com

From the Publisher

★ 10/07/2022

Swedish author Backman concludes a trilogy begun in 2016 with Beartown that continues the story of the residents of two rival hockey towns, Hed and Beartown. Everyone in the two rival communities has been burdened by a pivotal event two years previous, the rape of 15-year-old Maya Andersson by star hockey player Kevin Erdahl. Maya disappears into a big city to keep from only being a someone that something happened to, but now she returns for a funeral. Maya's father, Peter, once a star NHL player and now a general manager for the Beartown team, finds himself embroiled in a scandal from which his lawyer wife Kira must rescue him. Meanwhile, corrupt politicians, who are scrambling up the local power ladder with their money laundering, bribes, and sneaky private deals, keep the rivalries at a white-hot temperature to their advantage. Matteo, a lonely, almost invisible boy with no loyalties, no friends, and revenge in his heart, tips the balance with a pistol bartered for stolen rifles. Thereafter, the communities come together to mourn as walls are breached, solid friendships formed, and new heroes emerge. VERDICT Backman leaves no emotion unturned, sweeping up the reader in riveting family dramas that jump the boundaries of hockey-town rivalries. Another winner.—Donna Bettencourt

Library Journal

2022-07-08
Life continues haltingly for the inhabitants of Beartown and its rival borough, Hed.

As in the two earlier books in this series (Beartown, 2017; Us Against You, 2018), things are never settled between these two hockey-obsessed towns in the forests of Sweden. Only one can seemingly do well at a time—resourcewise or hockeywise; the two are interchangeable—and their residents share a mutual, pathological hatred. Beloved characters return, new ones are introduced, tragedy is promised. Backman repeatedly tells the reader about his characters’ overwhelming love for each other, but their ability to actually care for one another comes and goes with the demands of the unwieldy plot. He wants to assure readers that this makes his characters complex, but it really renders them pawns. To stoke the conflict between the towns, he includes not only the pregnancy-ending factory accident of a nameless woman (ushering in a suspiciously out-of-place anti-abortion sentiment), but also the murder of a beloved dog. These machinations are not alone in being soppy and unearned. The book is almost 700 pages long and covers only a two-week span. Backman writes with wit and sincerity and is a talented web-spinner, but with a tale this long, the lack of nuance becomes grating. There’s also a brief “not all men” message that, given the toxic nature of the narrative, is hard to ignore.

A moralistic noir masquerading as a heart-warmer.

Kirkus Reviews

"Backman writes with a signature rhythm: a little here, a bit more there, something of this person then that person, a tease about what will happen, warnings about what can’t. The result is a resonant symphony enhanced by the stupendous Ireland, who thankfully returns to Beartown as anointed cipher. The story here “shouldn't take long to tell,” Backman insists, “it starts right here and ends in less than two weeks, and how much can happen in two hockey towns during that time? Not much, obviously.” Oh, what understatement. Ireland embarks on an epic journey to conclude Backman's trilogy with satisfying sighs, plenty of tears, and maybe a wee bit of hope for humanity. The sudden death of local Bearskin bar owner Ramona brings home Maya and Benji, two lost souls who escaped after “the scandal” (when Kevin raped Maya and Beartown self-destructed). Ruth, whose truth was never believed, also returns—as virtually anonymous ashes—pushing her left-behind brother toward revenge against her local killers. Implosions prove inevitable. Ireland miraculously ensures that every voice is memorably heard; in addition to the beloved main cast, Ireland is equally magnificent with the smaller and no less important players including brilliant Zackell, mysterious Lars, prodigious Alicia, surprised Big City, and all the others. Backman admittedly meanders on occasion, but Ireland never misses a beat."

Booklist (Starred Review) - Terry Hong