Anxious People

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller A People Book of the Week,Book of the Month Club selectionand Best of Fall in Good HousekeepingPopSugarThe Washington PostNew York PostShondalandCNNand more! “[A] quirkybig-hearted novel…Wrywiseand often laugh-out-loud funnyit’s a wholly original story that delivers pure pleasure.” —People From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove comes a charmingpoignant novel about a crime that never took placea would-be bank robber who disappears into thin airand eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined. Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situationbut an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can’t fix their own marriage. There’s a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can’t seem to agree on anythingfrom where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her facea flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agentand a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroomand you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world. Each of them carries a lifetime of grievanceshurtssecretsand passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next. 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 friendshipforgivenessand hope—the things that save useven in the most anxious times.