F
Fredrik Backman
Fredrik Backman is the author of A Man Called Ove and The Scandal. He writes heartwarming and often humorous stories about ordinary people facing life's challenges.
Anxious People
Synopsis
A failed bank robber flees into an apartment open house and takes eight strangers hostage. Over one anxious afternoon, their quarrels, confessions and secrets reveal how much they have in common — and change all of them, including the two police officers outside, for good.
Vibe
Genres
Characters
Liv HolmbergProtagonist
A divorced mother of two facing eviction, whose botched, cashless bank robbery leads her to take a group of apartment-viewing strangers hostage; her real name and circumstances are only revealed at the end.
Anna-LenaSupporting
Zara (Anxious People)Supporting
A bank manager in her fifties among the hostages, haunted by a decade-old loan denial that ended in the applicant's suicide.
Roger (Anxious People)Supporting
A retired engineer held hostage alongside his wife, Anna-Lena.
Julia (Anxious People)Supporting
A pregnant florist held hostage alongside her partner, Ro.
Frequently asked questions
Is Anxious People a standalone novel?
While it features some recurring characters from Fredrik Backman's other works, Anxious People can be read completely independently without needing prior knowledge of his other books.
Is there a TV series adaptation of Anxious People?
Anxious People has been adapted into a limited television series. The adaptation generally captures the book's unique blend of humor and poignant character study.
How does Anxious People compare to Fredrik Backman's other books?
Anxious People shares Backman's signature style of exploring deep human connections and societal observations through quirky characters, but it leans more heavily into a comedic mystery structure than some of his more purely dramatic works.