The Deal of a Lifetime strikes straight at the heart and hits you

This (dimensionally) tiny book comes packed with huge emotion. Readers will speed through it in under two hours, then spend the rest of the day - at least - pondering the astonishing ideas it unleashes. The Deal of a Lifetime quite literally will grab you from the start and set you off in a host of incredible directions. Fredrik Backman has a wonderful ability to reach deep inside his readers, pull out feelings they didn't know they had, and set their minds spinning. What a blockbuster!

[This] book is short but every word counts and that'll hit you square in the heart. . . . You may shed tears over this book. You may need to savor it a second time, to feel its words again. However you read it, The Deal of a Lifetime is an experience you'll never trade.

Praise for Beartown

Surrounded by impenetrable forests, it recreates the stifling atmosphere of a dying community. This is a mature, compassionate novel.

A story about families, about friendship and loyalty, inequality, female vulnerability, male back-slapping, and parenthood ... No person's story is too little to be told, Backman includes them all. A novel with a big heart

A kind of problem play that moves extremely skilfully near the melodramatic without derailing. Its originality is substantial and the book credibly conveys the dual faces of everyday life. An impressive novel, like no other

Friday Night Lights for Swedes

As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with ABBA and Stieg Larsson.

Backman is a masterful writer, his characters familiar yet distinct, flawed yet heroic. . . There are scenes that bring tears, scenes of gut-wrenching despair, and moments of sly humor. . .Like Friday Night Lights, this is about more than youth sports; it's part coming-of-age novel, part study of moral failure, and finally a chronicle of groupthink in which an unlikely hero steps forward to save more than one person from self-destruction. A thoroughly empathetic examination of the fragile human spirit, Backman's latest will resonate a long time.

Sweet, sad and lovely, this is a roadtrip novel with a difference

This is the book I am giving everyone . . . the book I am recommending to anyone buying something Japan-related or cat-related, and, quite possibly, the book I am placing in someone's hand when they ask me what my favourite book is. For a bookseller, that is the highest accolade a book can ever receive

A beautiful travelogue

This story of a cat, a man, self-sacrifice and friendship will have you totally captivated ... An addictive tale of friendship and love.

i found myself sobbing ... unable, unwilling to let this joyful little book go

Stunningly beautiful. Tender, warm, sad and uplifting

I would urge people not to dismiss this as a 'cat book'; it is too much about human interaction and relationships to be so simply defined. A novel with wide appeal. I predict it will make a popular Christmas gift.

I'm not ashamed to say it had me at meow.

A book that stands out within the world of cat literature ... and it's a world worth exploring.

I found myself sobbing ... unable, unwilling, to let this little book go.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles is as much a loving tribute to Japan’s obsession with and reverence for cats as it is an endearing introduction for non-Japanese readers to the country’s ever-fascinating culture and deeply rooted traditions.

A book that speaks volumes about our need for connection - human, feline or otherwise.

This touching novel of a brave cat and his gentle, wise human will resonate with lovers of animal tales, quiet stories of friendship, and travelogues alike.

Gentle, soft-spoken, and full of wisdom

A delight to read

Prepare to have your heartstrings tugged by this quirky tale