BOOK OF THE MONTH
My Friends: A Novel
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A Fallon Book Club Pick
WINNER OF THE 2025 GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS FOR BEST FICTION
A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Goodreads • USA TODAY • Marie Claire • BookPage • Literary Lifestyle • Book Riot • Sunset Magazine • Totally Booked with Zibby Owens
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later.
Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.
Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.
Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.
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Community Reviews
What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *My Friends* by Fredrik Backman offers a deeply emotional, heartfelt exploration of friendship, grief, and art. Many praise its rich, huma...
What’s it about?
Louisa is turning eighteen and will finally be able to leave foster care. She does not have much in her life except a love of art. When she accidentally meets her favorite artist and his best friend, Ted, a new adventure begins. This book alternates between the present with Louisa’s story and the past, told mainly by Ted.
What did it make me think about?
The power of friendship and the power of art.
Should I read it?
This book is quintessential Fredrik Backman- so if you liked A Man Called Ove, Anxious People, or any of his other books, you will also like this one. I am always amazed by the simplicity of his sentences and the complexity of his themes. He drops thought-worthy ideas throughout his books, “…because that is the worst sort of gossip: the sort that is discussed as concern,” or “Being a parent is so strange, all our children’s pain belongs to us, but so does their joy.”
In this story, the four childhood friends are the anchor for me. I also appreciated the weight of Louisa’s story and the author’s ability to bring it all together at the end.
So, with great admiration, I share that many of his books are just okay for the first 75% of the story. Then, by the time I turn the last page, I am kind of in awe. I am not sure how I feel about that. It makes for an uneven novel for me, but I always admire his talent.
This will be a favorite of book clubs next year. There are so many interesting themes and characters to discuss.
Quote-
“Nothing weighs more than someone else’s belief in you.”
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