Read and discuss Scandinavian literature in translation as part of our Nordic Book Club, now online! Each month we select a novel from some of the best Nordic literary voices. Discussions have typically taken place the last Tuesday of the month at Scandinavia House but will now be taking place bi-weekly as an online meeting.
Book club participants will all appear online at the start of the meeting when they log in so that they are able to take part in the conversation. For participants who would prefer not to be visible onscreen, see an easy tutorial online here on how to set a profile image that will appear onscreen instead.
On May 11, we’ll be discussing the new book Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (A Man Called Ove, Beartown).
Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives: a recently retired couple with unaddressed marriage problems; a wealthy bank director too busy for relationships; an 87-year-old woman who has lived too long to be afraid of anyone; and a young couple expecting their first child, while unable to agree on anything else. Add to the mix a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroom, and you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world. But as authorities and media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion an entirely unexpected chain of events.
Rich with Fredrik Backman’s “pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature” (Shelf Awareness), Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious times.