Bestselling author Fredrik Backman will discuss his brand new book -- Anxious People -- in conversation with moderator Jo Golden in this Zoom webinar. 

How To Register: Register directly on Zoom HERE. Space is limited. 

How To Buy A Copy Of The Book: Autographed copies of the book will be available on a first-come, first-served basis by visiting this customized ordering page from our bookstore partner, Wellesley Books. While Anxious People is not released until September 8, pre-orders will be taken. Wellesley Books will donate 10% of your book sale to one of the libraries co-hosting this event. When on the checkout page, just type in the name of the library in the "Order Comments" section. Host libraries include Memorial Hall Library in Andover, Billerica Public Library, Flint Memorial Library in North Reading, Tewksbury Public Library, Wilmington Memorial Library, and Woburn Public Library. (Write "no preference" if you have no preference.)

About The Author: 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.

About The Book: Anxious People is a poignant comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined. 

Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can’t fix their own marriage. There’s a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else but herself, and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can’t seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroom, and you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world. 

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next. 

Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious times.

About The Moderator: Jo Golden is a marketing and content strategist for BookBub, an ebook discovery platform. (Find out more about BookBub HERE.) She loves reading, talking about and (attempting) to write books, and can't get enough of coming-of-age stories and creepy psychological thrillers. She lives in Boston with her husband.

About The Series: A collection of North of Boston libraries have joined forces to host a series of virtual discussions with bestselling authors this fall. Their next virtual event will take place on Saturday, September 19 at 10:30am with Kyle Mills, author of Total Power, the brand new book in the Mitch Rapp series created by Vince Flynn.