Us Against You

Description: Beartown is dying . . . Tucked in a forest in the frozen north, Beartown's residents are tough and hardworking. They don't expect life to be easy, but they do expect it to be fair. Which is why the sudden loss of their hockey players to the rival town of Hed hurts. Everyone needs something to cheer for in the long winter nights. Now they have nothing. So when a new star player arrives, Coach Peter sees an opportunity to rebuild the team - to take on Hed and restore Beartown's fortunes. But not everyone in town sees it his way. As the big game between both towns approaches, the rivalry turns bitter and all too real. Once the stands rumbled with threats to 'kill' and 'ruin' each other, but the residents didn't mean it. Now they do. By the time the last goal is scored, someone in Beartown will be dead . . . Us Against You is the story of two towns, two teams and what it means to believe in something bigger than yourself. It's about how people come together - sometimes in anger, often in sorrow, but also through love. And how, when we stand together, we can bring a town back to life.

Review: Praise for Beartown * : * I utterly believed in the residents of Beartown, and felt ripped apart by the events in the book -- Jojo Moyes * bestselling author of Me Before You * Surrounded by impenetrable forests, it recreates the stifling atmosphere of a dying community. This is a mature, compassionate novel * The Sunday Times * As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with ABBA and Stieg Larsson. * The New York Times Book Review * Friday Night Lights for Swedes * O Magazine * A kind of problem play that moves extremely skilfully near the melodramatic without derailing. Its originality is substantial and the book credibly conveys the dual faces of everyday life. An impressive novel, like no other * BTJ, Sweden * Praise for Us Against You * - * Backman is a masterful writer, his characters familiar yet distinct, flawed yet heroic. . . There are scenes that bring tears, scenes of gut-wrenching despair, and moments of sly humor. . .Like Friday Night Lights, this is about more than youth sports; it's part coming-of-age novel, part study of moral failure, and finally a chronicle of groupthink in which an unlikely hero steps forward to save more than one person from self-destruction. A thoroughly empathetic examination of the fragile human spirit, Backman's latest will resonate a long time. * Kirkus Reviews * Evident in all [Backman] novels is an apparent ability to state a truth about humanity with breathtaking elegance * Kirkus Reviews * Backman is the Dickens of our age, and though you'll cry, your heart is safe in his hands * Green Valley News, Arizona * A light hearted, deeply moving novel about a grumpy but loveable curmudgeon who finds his solitary world * CBS Local * Backman's ability to tell stories in pictures is one of his strongest merits, not least how he describes relationships . . . It's rare that one cares about so many characters in a book, and seldom that one comes so close to a whole community. But the leading role in Backman's novels about Beartown is, after all, played by the sports community. It's a love declaration of the highest order * Goeteborgs-Posten, Sweden * Mr. Backman cements his standing as a writer of astonishing depth and proves that he also has very broad range plus the remarkable ability to make you understand the feelings of each of a dozen different characters. . . . The story is fully packed with wise insights into the human experience causing characters and readers to ponder life's great question of who we are, what we hope to be and how we should lead our lives * The Washington Times * Fredrik Backman writes wonderfully about men, with a love and understanding for the ones who would rather solve conflicts with their fists. It's hard not to love it * Dagens Nyheter, Sweden * A brilliant sequel . . . Backman writes about loyalty and love, but also captures the feelings of athletes in a vibrant way * Skaraborgs Allehanda, Sweden * Backman knows how to construct a thrilling plot, and what he writes engages . . . And when he hits his stride among the emotions, the sentimental turns into an asset - like a hockey puck straight to the heart * Landskrona Posten, Sweden * It's obvious that Fredrik Backman loves sports and no one is as good at evoking feelings as he is. You are thrown between laughter and tears in the space of one sentence to the next. At the same time, this might be his most earnest and serious, if you can understand what I mean, novel to date. It takes an even bigger grip on the world than the previous novel in the series did. Now we can only wait for the next chapter * Varmlands Folkblad, Sweden * This is a tale of the pitfalls of group mentality as well as the loss of an innocence we all take for granted-and it will grip you from start to finish * Canadian Living * A story about families, about friendship and loyalty, inequality, female vulnerability, male back-slapping, and parenthood ... No person's story is too little to be told, Backman includes them all. A novel with a big heart * Joenkoepings-Posten, Sweden * Praise for The Scandal * : *

Author Biography: Fredrik Backman is the number one New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (in development as a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks), My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises, Britt-Marie Was Here, and Beartown, which is being adapted for TV by the team behind The Bridge. His books are published in more than forty countries and have sold over ten million copies. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.