Title: ANXIOUS PEOPLE
Author: FREDRIK BACKMAN
Translator: Neil Smith
ISBN: 9781982121600Â
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 336
Source: Private Copy
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.
Official Summary
04 June 2026
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman is one of those rare novels that blends humour, heartbreak, and humanity into a story that lingers long after the final page. What begins as an unusual hostage situation quickly transforms into a deeply emotional exploration of fear, regret, forgiveness, and the complicated ways people carry their pain.
A failed bank robbery gone spectacularly wrong brings together a group of strangers at an apartment viewing, each carrying invisible burdens of their own. At first, the cast appears eccentric and mismatched—an anxious couple expecting a baby, a retired pair struggling in their marriage, an elderly woman with hidden grief, and others whose lives are far messier than they seem. Yet as the hours unfold, Backman peels back their layers with remarkable tenderness and insight.
The strength of this novel lies in its characters. Backman has a gift for creating flawed, frustrating, and wonderfully human people who feel entirely real. Their conversations are often laugh-out-loud funny, filled with awkward misunderstandings and sharp observations, but beneath the humour lies genuine emotional depth. Each character’s story reveals something universal about loneliness, disappointment, and the desperate desire to be understood.
The narrative structure may feel slightly chaotic at first, moving between interviews, perspectives, and timelines, but it gradually comes together in a clever and satisfying way. What initially seems like a quirky crime story becomes something far more meaningful—a reflection on how people collide, connect, and sometimes save one another without even realising it.
Anxious People is not a fast-paced thriller despite its hostage premise. Instead, it is a character-driven novel that rewards patience with warmth and emotional payoff. Backman reminds us that everyone is fighting battles we cannot see, and that compassion can often be found in the most unexpected places.
Heartfelt, witty, and quietly profound, Anxious People is a beautifully messy story about ordinary people and extraordinary empathy. A moving and memorable read that balances laughter and tears with remarkable skill.
Also by Fredrik Backman
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.
About the Author
Author bio from the author’s site
Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (soon to be a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, as well as two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime. Things My Son Needs to Know About the World, his first work of non-fiction, will be released in the US in May 2019. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.
This in not a book I would chosen to read, but Alicia loves Fredrik Backman and she suggest that I read this one. My expectations were not very high, but I found myself quickly engrossed in the story and eager to see where it would go. Thank you for the suggestion, Alicia – I settled on a four-star rating for this one. Until next time…. Happy Reading!
