Fredrik Backman's short stories are imbued with the same gentle humor and warmth as his bestselling full-length novels, now published in forty-three countries. They are modern parables on timeless themes or, if you prefer, fairy tales for adults. Backman is true to himself—he once again speaks in simple terms about the most important things: the meaning of life, death, the merciless passage of time, and human memory. 'The Deal of a Lifetime' is a story about what you're willing to sacrifice to save someone else's life. When not only your future, but also your past, is at stake. Not only the places you're heading to, but also the traces you've already left behind. For whom are you willing to give up all this?
In the story 'And Every Morning the Road Home Gets Longer,' Backman writes about what it's like to lose your memories before you live, and for those of us left behind, we must struggle to understand how to live apart from them, when they are still here and no longer here.
'Sebastian and the Troll' is a poignant story by Backman, a fairy tale for adults, a short story of overwhelming emotional power. It is a story about childhood fragility and vulnerability, broken laughter, stifling glass balls, and childhood fears.