Fredrik Backman Books in Order – A Complete List

Fredrik Backman Books in Order 

Beartown Books in Order

1. Beartown (2017) aka The Scandal
2. Us Against You (2018)
3. The Winners (2022)

Standalone Novels

1. A Man Called Ove (2014)
2. My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises (2015)
3. Britt-Marie Was Here (2016)
4. Anxious People (2020)

Collections

1. The Deal of a Lifetime and Other Stories (2018)

Novellas and Short Stories

1. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer (2016)
2. The Deal of a Lifetime (2017)

Non fiction

1. Things My Son Needs to Know About the World (2019)

Bridging’s Books Recommended Reading Order

1. A Man Called Ove (2014)
2. Anxious People (2020)
3. Beartown Trilogy
4. Any other stories you like the sound of

Who is Fredrik Backman?

Fredrik Backman is a well-known Swedish author, blogger, and columnist. He has written several highly successful books, including A Man Called Ove, Things My Son Needs to Know about the World, and The Winners. His books have achieved great popularity in Sweden and have been translated into over twenty-five languages. He made his debut as a novelist with A Man Called Ove, which was later adapted into a film. Additionally, the rights to his book Beartown were acquired by Filmlance, a Swedish production company, for a television adaptation. Many of his books have been translated into English, with Atria publishing and translating his novels after the success of A Man Called Ove.

Fredrik Backman Books in Order

Fredrik Backman only has one series of books that have a “required reading order”. This is his Beartown series which is a traditional trilogy that should be read in publication order as below. His other stories are all standalones and can be read in any order that you desire. If you are completely new to his work, we would recommend following the Bridging’s Books Recommended Reading Order at the start of this page, where we give you a quick guide on how to read his books. It starts with a couple of standalone novels that are generally his most universally praised works, then as you continue and if you like his work, you can move onto the Beartown Trilogy and then pick up any other stories as and when you please.

The following list is each book with it blurb and ratings to help you get a better idea of which one you might enjoy the most!

Beartown Books in Order

The Beartown series is the only actual series of novels by Fredrik Backman. If you’re looking for something more than a single novel, then this is the place to start. None of his other work is part of a series.

1. Beartown (2017) aka The Scandal

Beartown #1
123,000 words, 432 pages, 13 hrs and 43 mins to read.
Published by Simon & Schuster
4.29 out of 5 on Goodreads

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

2. Us Against You (2018)

Beartown #2
123,500 words, 448 pages, 13 hrs and 47 mins to read.
Published by Atria Books
4.36 out of 5 on Goodreads

After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow when they hear that their beloved local hockey team will soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in Hed, take in that fact. Amidst the mounting tension between the two rivals, a surprising newcomer is handpicked to be Beartown’s new hockey coach.

Soon a new team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the enmity with Hed grows more and more acute.

As the big match approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt grows deeper. By the time the last game is finally played, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after all they’ve been through, the game they love can ever return to something simple and innocent.

3. The Winners (2022)

Beartown #3
192,500 words, 448 pages, 21 hrs and 22 mins to read.
Published by Atria Books
4.48 out of 5 on Goodreads

Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The residents continue to grapple with life’s big questions: What is a family? What is a community? And what, if anything, are we willing to sacrifice in order to protect them?

As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink.

So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home?

Standalone Novels

1. A Man Called Ove (2014)

83,000 words, 337 pages, 9 hrs and 12 mins to read.
Published by Atria Books
4.38 out of 5 on Goodreads

Now a major motion picture, A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks.

A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

2. My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises (2015)  aka My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry

101,000 words, 372 pages, 11 hrs and 2 mins to read.
Published by Atria Books
4.08 out of 5 on Goodreads

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

3. Britt-Marie Was Here (2016)

83,500 words, 324 pages, 9 hrs and 17 mins to read.
Published by Atria Books
4.09 out of 5 on Goodreads

Britt-Marie can’t stand mess. A disorganized cutlery drawer ranks high on her list of unforgivable sins. She is not one to judge others—no matter how ill-mannered, unkempt, or morally suspect they might be. It’s just that sometimes people interpret her helpful suggestions as criticisms, which is certainly not her intention. But hidden inside the socially awkward, fussy busybody is a woman who has more imagination, bigger dreams, and a warmer heart that anyone around her realizes.

When Britt-Marie walks out on her cheating husband and has to fend for herself in the miserable backwater town of Borg—of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it—she finds work as the caretaker of a soon-to-be demolished recreation center. The fastidious Britt-Marie soon finds herself being drawn into the daily doings of her fellow citizens, an odd assortment of miscreants, drunkards, layabouts. Most alarming of all, she’s given the impossible task of leading the supremely untalented children’s soccer team to victory. In this small town of misfits, can Britt-Marie find a place where she truly belongs?

4. Anxious People (2020)

87,500 words, 336 pages, 9 hrs and 52 mins to read.
Published by Atria Books
4.19 out of 5 on Goodreads

Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers begin slowly opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.

First is Zara, a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else until tragedy changed her life. Now, she’s obsessed with visiting open houses to see how ordinary people live—and, perhaps, to set an old wrong to right. Then there’s Roger and Anna-Lena, an Ikea-addicted retired couple who are on a never-ending hunt for fixer-uppers to hide the fact that they don’t know how to fix their own failing marriage. Julia and Ro are a young lesbian couple and soon-to-be parents who are nervous about their chances for a successful life together since they can’t agree on anything. And there’s Estelle, an eighty-year-old woman who has lived long enough to be unimpressed by a masked bank robber waving a gun in her face. And despite the story she tells them all, Estelle hasn’t really come to the apartment to view it for her daughter, and her husband really isn’t outside parking the car.

As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.

Collections

1. The Deal of a Lifetime and Other Stories (2018)

15,500 words, 119 pages, 47 mins to read (The Deal of a Lifetime).
Published by Simon & Schuster
4.03 out of 5 on Goodreads

The Deal of a Lifetime is a profound and moving novella set on Christmas Eve. It tells the story of the intertwining destinies of a man who has built a global business empire but lost his family in the process and a courageous little girl fighting for her life, and it asks the question: if you had the chance to change your legacy, would you take it?

In the touching novella And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, an elderly man sits on a bench with his son and grandson, reminiscing and telling jokes. As he recalls his most precious memories and faces his regrets, the man discovers there is one last thing he must do: help his family learn to say goodbye without fear.

Finally, “Sebastian and the Troll” is Fredrik Backman’s newest work—an eloquent short story about a young boy struggling with depression and how he finds the courage to discover the person he might become.

With his signature humor, compassion, and charm, Backman reminds us that life is a gift, and what matters most is how we share that gift with those we love.

Novellas and Short Stories

1. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer (2016)

10,250 words, 97 pages, 1 hr and 8 mins to read.
Published by Atria Books
4.33 out of 5 on Goodreads

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, and Britt-Marie Was Here comes an exquisitely moving portrait of an elderly man’s struggle to hold on to his most precious memories, and his family’s efforts to care for him even as they must find a way to let go.

With all the same charm of his bestselling full-length novels, here Fredrik Backman once again reveals his unrivaled understanding of human nature and deep compassion for people in difficult circumstances. This is a tiny gem with a message you’ll treasure for a lifetime.

2. The Deal of a Lifetime (2017)

7,500 words, 65 pages, 47 mins to read.
Published by Atria Books
3.80 out of 5 on Goodreads

A father and a son are seeing each other for the first time in years. The father has a story to share before it’s too late. He tells his son about a courageous little girl lying in a hospital bed a few miles away. She’s a smart kid—smart enough to know that she won’t beat cancer by drawing with crayons all day, but it seems to make the adults happy, so she keeps doing it.

As he talks about this plucky little girl, the father also reveals more about himself: his triumphs in business, his failures as a parent, his past regrets, his hopes for the future.

Now, on a cold winter’s night, the father has been given an unexpected chance to do something remarkable that could change the destiny of a little girl he hardly knows. But before he can make the deal of a lifetime, he must find out what his own life has actually been worth, and only his son can reveal that answer.

Non fiction

1. Things My Son Needs to Know About the World (2019)

34,000 words, 208 pages, 3 hrs and 9 mins to read.
Published by Atria Books
3.98 out of 5 on Goodreads

Things My Son Needs to Know About the World collects the personal dispatches from the front lines of one of the most daunting experiences any man can experience: fatherhood.

As he conveys his profound awe at experiencing all the “firsts” that fill him with wonder and catch him completely unprepared, Fredrik Backman doesn’t shy away from revealing his own false steps and fatherly flaws, tackling issues both great and small, from masculinity and mid-life crises to practical jokes and poop.

In between the sleep-deprived lows and wonderful highs, Backman takes a step back to share the true story of falling in love with a woman who is his complete opposite, and learning to live a life that revolves around the people you care about unconditionally. Alternating between humorous side notes and longer essays offering his son advice as he grows up and ventures out into the world, Backman relays the big and small lessons in life, including:

-How to find the team you belong to
-Why airports explain everything about religion and war
-The reason starting a band is crucial to cultivating and keeping friendships
-How to beat Monkey Island 3
-Why, sometimes, a dad might hold onto his son’s hand just a little too tight.

Overall

Fredrik Backman has quickly become a household name in the contemporary fiction world. He has seen remarkable success and has universal praise from critics and the general public alike. 

If you have enjoyed any of Fredrik Backman’s work and want to learn more about him or any other of  his work, then feel free to check out his website.

Which one is your favourite or most looking forward to picking up next? 

Let us know!

Happy reading!

Fredrik Backman Books Total Word Count
Total Words: 860,750
Total Pages: 3,186
Total Time to Listen/Read: 94 hrs and 6 mins

More of the same, but different:

• Little Women Books in Order
• Bridgerton Books in Order
• Miss Julia Books in Order

Things to Note:

1. Word count is an approximation.
2. Amount of pages may differ due to different publications, font style and/or size etc.
3. Time spent reading is generally an approximation based on the word count and the average reading time. The average reader will read 250 WPM (Words Per Minute).
4. This is the original publisher of the books.
5. The current Goodreads score at the time of writing.