Blurb:

It’s New Year’s Eve and House Tricks estate agents are hosting an open viewing in an up-market apartment when an incompetent bank robber rushes in and politely takes everyone hostage.

For Anna-Lena and Roger, busy buying-up apartments to fill the hole in their marriage, it’s something else to talk about.

For Julia and Ro, panicky parents-to-be, it’s yet another worry.

Lonely bank manager Zara only came here for the view.

While 87-year-old grandmother Estelle seems rather pleased by the company . . .

As the police gather outside, the anxious strangers huddled within try to make the best of a very sticky situation – but could it be that they have a whole lot more in common than meets the eye?

Review:

Anxious People has been on my radar for a while so I was glad to have the opportunity to read it for my local book club. It is very much a character driven novel and I love how Fredrik Backman’s wonderful writing brings them all to life on the page. His observations of the different characters are incredibly astute and relatable, and this makes the novel really engaging and enjoyable, whilst also giving the reader the opportunity to reflect on the world around them.

The plot of Anxious People can only be described as bonkers and I wasn’t always sure where it was going and had to suspend my disbelief in places. However, I loved getting to know all the different characters and loved all the subtle connections between them. Backman writes with humour and there were parts of the novel where I genuinely laughed out loud.

Alongside the humour, Fredrik Backman writes about some emotional issues, and readers will recognise at least one of them from their own lives. He handles these issues with incredible sensitivity, and I did feel sympathy for most of the characters at some point in the novel.

Fredrik Backman has an impressive back catalogue and although I have read some of his work, reading Anxious People has encouraged me to add the rest of it to my TBR.

Anxious People is available from Amazon.