My Friends: A Novel

My Friends is told from the perspective of Louisa and Ted, both of whom have recently lost their best friend. Louisa is an 18-year-old orphan and has lived a hard life. Still, she has an unspeakable talent for art and meets a famous artist who changes her life forever during his final days on earth. Ted is the late artist’s closest friend and eventually meets Louisa. He finds her annoying, yet familiar – he tells her the story of his best friends on a long train ride and realizes that he and Louisa are more similar than he could have expected.

My Friends is another emotional character-driven novel from Fredrik Backman. I almost cried countless times—Backman has such a gift for writing about the human experience. It is filled with humor and heartbreak, with each page feeling like a warm hug. I found myself savoring each chapter, wanting to know what happened during Ted’s childhood and why he is alone as an adult. I was saddened by each child’s relationships with their parents, but the precious moments with one another and the few loving adults in their lives made it emotionally bearable. This is a book that will stay with me for a while!