The reminder email sent this afternoon had the wrong information in the subject line, but all of the information in the body of the email is correct. Fredrik Backman will be speaking at the Zoom link provided at 5:00 p.m. EST today—Thursday, September 10. Our apologies for any confusion caused.

COMBINED FINAL image Backman Anxious People

“Pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature.” — Shelf Awareness

New York Times best-selling author Fredrik Backman will join us and our co-hosts Frederick County Public Libraries, Curious Iguana, and Weinberg Center for the Arts, for a virtual event to discuss his latest book, Anxious People, on Thursday, September 10 at 5:00 pm EST.

In Anxious People, Backman drops us into the world of a failed bank robber and the disparate group of strangers who become unwitting hostages, offering up unforgettable insights into the human condition and a gentle reminder to be compassionate to all the anxious people we encounter every day.

Pre-order an exclusive signed copy of Anxious People through our official event bookseller, Curious Iguana.

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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 slowly begin 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.

Rich with Fredrik Backman’s “pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature” (Shelf Awareness), Anxious People’s whimsical plot serves up unforgettable insights into the human condition and a gentle reminder to be compassionate to all the anxious people we encounter every day.

FREDRIK BACKMAN is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, Things My Son Needs to Know about the World and two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm with his wife and two children.

Author Event: Fredrik Backman Discusses Anxious People

“Pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature.” — Shelf Awareness

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