Wyn and Harriet’s relationship, shown both in the past and the present, feels achingly real. As always, Henry’s dialogue is sparkling and the banter between characters is snappy and hilarious. The problem with this plan, of course, is that Harriet still has major feelings for Wyn-feelings that only get stronger as they pretend to be blissfully in love. Determined to make sure everyone has the perfect last trip, Harriet and Wyn resolve to fake their relationship for the week. Telling the truth about their breakup is out of the question, because the cottage is up for sale, and this is the group’s last hurrah. But (surprise!) Wyn is there too, and he and Harriet have to share a (very romantic) room and a bed.

She’s ready for a vacation at her happy place-the Maine cottage she and her friends visit every summer. So they keep it a secret from their friends and families-in fact, Harriet barely even admits it to herself, focusing instead on her grueling hours as a surgical resident. They’ve been part of the same boisterous friend group since college, and they know that their breakup will devastate the others and make things more than a little awkward. Wyn Connor and Harriet Kilpatrick were the perfect couple-until Wyn dumped Harriet for reasons she still doesn’t fully understand. But the story gains energy and sureness as it develops, resulting in moments of insight and connection between its numerous amiable characters.Ī story with both comedy and heartbreak sure to please Backman fans.Įxes pretend they’re still together for the sake of their friends on their annual summer vacation. The observer/narrator is winding and given to tangents and, in early moments, might distract a bit too much from the strongly drawn characters.

Backman’s latest novel focuses on how a shared event can change the course of multiple people’s lives even in times of deep and ongoing anxiousness. After the situation has ended with an absent bank robber and blood on the carpet, a father-and-son police pair work through maddening interviews with the witnesses: the ridiculous realtor an older couple who renovates and sells apartments in an effort to stay busy a bickering young couple expecting their first child a well-off woman interested only in the view from the balcony of a significant bridge in her life an elderly woman missing her husband as New Year’s Eve approaches and, absurdly, an actor dressed as a rabbit hired to disrupt the showing and drive down the apartment price. In an attempt to flee the police, the would-be perpetrator runs into a nearby apartment building and interrupts an open house, causing the would-be buyers to assume they're being held hostage. Unfortunately, the target turns out to be a cashless bank, which means that no robbery can take place. In a town in Sweden, a desperate parent turns to bank robbery to help pay the rent. Eight people become unlikely friends during a hostage situation created by an inept bank robber.

Anxious people novel