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 * OVER A QUARTER OF A MILLION COPIES SOLD * * AN INSTANT SUNDAY 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 * 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 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 years later. Readers can't get enough of My Friends . . . (***** five star reviews) 'It was perfect. I have no other words to describe this masterpiece. Like, what the hell was I doing all these years??' 'I haven’t read a friendship story this genuine, heartfelt, clumsy, straightforward, smart, sentimental, shocking, and emotionally resonant in a very long time.' 'Is it too early in the year to pick my favourite read of 2025? I think not, as this will be hard to beat.' 'Backman remains my absolute favorite.' 'Absolutely brilliant and beautiful ... I loved, loved, loved this book.'

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 * OVER A QUARTER OF A MILLION COPIES SOLD * * AN INSTANT SUNDAY 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 * 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 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 years later. Readers can't get enough of My Friends . . . (***** five star reviews) 'It was perfect. I have no other words to describe this masterpiece. Like, what the hell was I doing all these years??' 'I haven’t read a friendship story this genuine, heartfelt, clumsy, straightforward, smart, sentimental, shocking, and emotionally resonant in a very long time.' 'Is it too early in the year to pick my favourite read of 2025? I think not, as this will be hard to beat.' 'Backman remains my absolute favorite.' 'Absolutely brilliant and beautiful ...I loved, loved, loved this book.'

WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER FOR FICTION WINNER OF THE GORDON BOWKER VOLCANO PRIZE 2025 FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2024 LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024 FROM THE PULITZER-PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR OF THE RETURN 'A brilliant novel about innocence and experience, about friendship, family and exile' COLM TOIBIN Khaled and Mustafa meet at university in Edinburgh: two Libyan eighteen-year-olds expecting to return home after their studies. In a moment of recklessness and courage, they travel to London to join a demonstration in front of the Libyan embassy. When government officials open fire on protestors in broad daylight, both friends are wounded, and their lives forever changed. Over the years that follow, Khaled, Mustafa and their friend Hosam, a writer, are bound together by their shared history. If friendship is a space to inhabit, theirs becomes small and inhospitable when a revolution in Libya forces them to choose between the lives they have created in London and the lives they left behind. 'The first Booker contender of 2024 . . . a deeply touching, beautifully composed book' Sunday Times 'It is impossible to describe the profound depth and beauty of this book' MAAZA MENGISTE, author of THE SHADOW KING 'My Friends is both a complex and unsentimental meditation on what friendship means and a searingly moving exploration of how exile impacts those who are forced to live in this state of loss. It is a book that we loved for its spareness of language and its deeply affecting storytelling.’ Booker Prize Judges 2024

WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER FOR FICTION WINNER OF THE GORDON BOWKER VOLCANO PRIZE 2025 FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2024 LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024 FROM THE PULITZER-PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR OF THE RETURN 'A brilliant novel about innocence and experience, about friendship, family and exile' COLM TOIBIN Khaled and Mustafa meet at university in Edinburgh: two Libyan eighteen-year-olds expecting to return home after their studies. In a moment of recklessness and courage, they travel to London to join a demonstration in front of the Libyan embassy. When government officials open fire on protestors in broad daylight, both friends are wounded, and their lives forever changed. Over the years that follow, Khaled, Mustafa and their friend Hosam, a writer, are bound together by their shared history. If friendship is a space to inhabit, theirs becomes small and inhospitable when a revolution in Libya forces them to choose between the lives they have created in London and the lives they left behind. 'The first Booker contender of 2024 . . . a deeply touching, beautifully composed book' Sunday Times 'It is impossible to describe the profound depth and beauty of this book' MAAZA MENGISTE, author of THE SHADOW KING 'My Friends is both a complex and unsentimental meditation on what friendship means and a searingly moving exploration of how exile impacts those who are forced to live in this state of loss. It is a book that we loved for its spareness of language and its deeply affecting storytelling.’ Booker Prize Judges 2024

Bove's tale of a World War I veteran living in postwar Paris, searching for friendship and warmth, is an ironic, entertaining masterpiece by one of France's favorite authors. My Friends is Emmanuel Bove's first and most famous book, and it begins simply, though unusually, enough: "When I wake up, my mouth is open. My teeth are furry: it would be better to brush them in the evening, but I am never brave enough." Victor Baton is speaking, and he is a classic little man, of no talent or distinction or importance and with no illusions that he has any of those things, either; in fact, if he is exceptional, it is that life's most basic transactions seem to confound him more than they do the rest of us. All Victor wants is to be loved, all he wants is a friend, and as he strays through the streets of Paris in search of love or friendship or some fleeting connection, we laugh both at Victor's meekness and at his odd pride, but we feel with him, too. Victor is after all a kind of everyman, the indomitable knight of human fragility. And, in spite of everything, he, or at least his creator, is some kind of genius, investing the back streets and rented rooms of the city and the unsorted moments of daily life with a weird and unforgettable clarity.

Bove's tale of a World War I veteran living in postwar Paris, searching for friendship and warmth, is an ironic, entertaining masterpiece by one of France's favorite authors. My Friends is Emmanuel Bove's first and most famous book, and it begins simply, though unusually, enough: "When I wake up, my mouth is open. My teeth are furry: it would be better to brush them in the evening, but I am never brave enough." Victor Baton is speaking, and he is a classic little man, of no talent or distinction or importance and with no illusions that he has any of those things, either; in fact, if he is exceptional, it is that life's most basic transactions seem to confound him more than they do the rest of us. All Victor wants is to be loved, all he wants is a friend, and as he strays through the streets of Paris in search of love or friendship or some fleeting connection, we laugh both at Victor's meekness and at his odd pride, but we feel with him, too. Victor is after all a kind of everyman, the indomitable knight of human fragility. And, in spite of everything, he, or at least his creator, is some kind of genius, investing the back streets and rented rooms of the city and the unsorted moments of daily life with a weird and unforgettable clarity.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST - LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE - A "masterly" ( The New York Times , Editors' Choice), "riveting" ( The Atlantic ) novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return "A profound celebration of the sustaining power of friendship, of the ways we mold ourselves against the indentations of those few people whom fate presses against us."-- The Washington Post ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST AND PUBLISHER WEEKLY 'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, Time, NPR, BookPage WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION - WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD - LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION One evening, as a young boy growing up in Benghazi, Khaled hears a bizarre short story read aloud on the radio, about a man being eaten alive by a cat, and has the sense that his life has been changed forever. Obsessed by the power of those words--and by their enigmatic author, Hosam Zowa--Khaled eventually embarks on a journey that will take him far from home, to pursue a life of the mind at the University of Edinburgh. There, thrust into an open society that is miles away from the world he knew in Libya, Khaled begins to change. He attends a protest against the Qaddafi regime in London, only to watch it explode into tragedy. In a flash, Khaled finds himself injured, clinging to life, unable to leave Britain, much less return to the country of his birth. To even tell his mother and father back home what he has done, on tapped phone lines, would expose them to danger. When a chance encounter in a hotel brings Khaled face-to-face with Hosam Zowa, the author of the fateful short story, he is subsumed into the deepest friendship of his life. It is a friendship that not only sustains him but eventually forces him, as the Arab Spring erupts, to confront agonizing tensions between revolution and safety, family and exile, and how to define his own sense of self against those closest to him. A devastating meditation on friendship and family, and the ways in which time tests--and frays--those bonds, My Friends is an achingly beautiful work of literature by an author working at the peak of his powers.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST - LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE - A "masterly" ( The New York Times , Editors' Choice), "riveting" ( The Atlantic ) novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return "A profound celebration of the sustaining power of friendship, of the ways we mold ourselves against the indentations of those few people whom fate presses against us."-- The Washington Post ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST AND PUBLISHER WEEKLY 'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, Time, NPR, BookPage WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION - WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD - LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION One evening, as a young boy growing up in Benghazi, Khaled hears a bizarre short story read aloud on the radio, about a man being eaten alive by a cat, and has the sense that his life has been changed forever. Obsessed by the power of those words--and by their enigmatic author, Hosam Zowa--Khaled eventually embarks on a journey that will take him far from home, to pursue a life of the mind at the University of Edinburgh. There, thrust into an open society that is miles away from the world he knew in Libya, Khaled begins to change. He attends a protest against the Qaddafi regime in London, only to watch it explode into tragedy. In a flash, Khaled finds himself injured, clinging to life, unable to leave Britain, much less return to the country of his birth. To even tell his mother and father back home what he has done, on tapped phone lines, would expose them to danger. When a chance encounter in a hotel brings Khaled face-to-face with Hosam Zowa, the author of the fateful short story, he is subsumed into the deepest friendship of his life. It is a friendship that not only sustains him but eventually forces him, as the Arab Spring erupts, to confront agonizing tensions between revolution and safety, family and exile, and how to define his own sense of self against those closest to him. A devastating meditation on friendship and family, and the ways in which time tests--and frays--those bonds, My Friends is an achingly beautiful work of literature by an author working at the peak of his powers.

A masterful, intensely moving novel about three friends living in political exile and the emotional homeland that deep friendships can provide - from the Booker-shortlisted, Pulitzer prize-winning author of THE RETURN Khaled and Mustafa meet at university in Edinburgh: two Libyan eighteen-year-olds expecting to return home after their studies. In a moment of recklessness and courage, they travel to London to join a demonstration in front of the Libyan embassy. When government officials open fire on protestors in broad daylight, both friends are wounded, and their lives forever changed. Over the years that follow, Khaled, Mustafa and their friend Hosam, a writer, are bound together by their shared history. If friendship is a space to inhabit, theirs becomes small and inhospitable when a revolution in Libya forces them to choose between the lives they have created in London and the lives they left behind. 'MY FRIENDS is a brilliant novel about innocence and experience, about friendship, family and exile. It makes clear, once more, that Hisham Matar is a supremely talented novelist.' COLM TOIBIN 'I have always admired Matar's tender and compassionate but equally strong and compelling voice' ELIF SHAFAK 'It is impossible to describe the profound depth and beauty of this book. MY FRIENDS is a breathtaking novel, every page a miracle and an affirmation. Hisham is one of our greatest writers, how lucky we are to be in his midst.' MAAZA MENGISTE, author of THE SHADOW KING

A masterful, intensely moving novel about three friends living in political exile and the emotional homeland that deep friendships can provide - from the Booker-shortlisted, Pulitzer prize-winning author of THE RETURN Khaled and Mustafa meet at university in Edinburgh: two Libyan eighteen-year-olds expecting to return home after their studies. In a moment of recklessness and courage, they travel to London to join a demonstration in front of the Libyan embassy. When government officials open fire on protestors in broad daylight, both friends are wounded, and their lives forever changed. Over the years that follow, Khaled, Mustafa and their friend Hosam, a writer, are bound together by their shared history. If friendship is a space to inhabit, theirs becomes small and inhospitable when a revolution in Libya forces them to choose between the lives they have created in London and the lives they left behind. 'MY FRIENDS is a brilliant novel about innocence and experience, about friendship, family and exile. It makes clear, once more, that Hisham Matar is a supremely talented novelist.' COLM TOIBIN 'I have always admired Matar's tender and compassionate but equally strong and compelling voice' ELIF SHAFAK 'It is impossible to describe the profound depth and beauty of this book. MY FRIENDS is a breathtaking novel, every page a miracle and an affirmation. Hisham is one of our greatest writers, how lucky we are to be in his midst.' MAAZA MENGISTE, author of THE SHADOW KING

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 * OVER A QUARTER OF A MILLION COPIES SOLD * * AN INSTANT SUNDAY 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 * 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 one of the most famous paintings in the world three tiny figures sit at the end of a pier. Most people don't even notice them. Most people think it's just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers seek refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days together. They tell jokes, they share secrets, and they commit 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 18-year-old Louisa's care. Determined to learn how it came to be and to decide what to do with it, Louisa embarks on a cross-country journey. But the closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more nervous she becomes. In this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art, Louisa is proof that happy endings don't always take the form we expect. Readers can't get enough of My Friends . . . (***** five star reviews) 'It was perfect. I have no other words to describe this masterpiece. Like, what the hell was I doing all these years??' 'I haven't read a friendship story this genuine, heartfelt, clumsy, straightforward, smart, sentimental, shocking, and emotionally resonant in a very long time.' 'Is it too early in the year to pick my favourite read of 2025? I think not, as this will be hard to beat.' 'Backman remains my absolute favorite.' 'Absolutely brilliant and beautiful ...I loved, loved, loved this book.'

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 * OVER A QUARTER OF A MILLION COPIES SOLD * * AN INSTANT SUNDAY 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 * 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 one of the most famous paintings in the world three tiny figures sit at the end of a pier. Most people don't even notice them. Most people think it's just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers seek refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days together. They tell jokes, they share secrets, and they commit 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 18-year-old Louisa's care. Determined to learn how it came to be and to decide what to do with it, Louisa embarks on a cross-country journey. But the closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more nervous she becomes. In this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art, Louisa is proof that happy endings don't always take the form we expect. Readers can't get enough of My Friends . . . (***** five star reviews) 'It was perfect. I have no other words to describe this masterpiece. Like, what the hell was I doing all these years??' 'I haven't read a friendship story this genuine, heartfelt, clumsy, straightforward, smart, sentimental, shocking, and emotionally resonant in a very long time.' 'Is it too early in the year to pick my favourite read of 2025? I think not, as this will be hard to beat.' 'Backman remains my absolute favorite.' 'Absolutely brilliant and beautiful ... I loved, loved, loved this book.'

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Goodreads - USA TODAY - Marie Claire - BookPage - Literary Lifestyle - Book Riot - Sunset Magazine - Totally Booked with Zibby Owens #1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman 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.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Goodreads - USA TODAY - Marie Claire - BookPage - Literary Lifestyle - Book Riot - Sunset Magazine - Totally Booked with Zibby Owens #1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman 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.