Britt-Marie Was Here

Author/Guide: Fredrik Backman

Why a Booktrail?

2000s: For as long as anyone can remember, Britt-Marie has been an acquired taste.

ISBN: 978-1473617230
Genre: Fiction

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What you need to know before your trail

For as long as anyone can remember, Britt-Marie has been an acquired taste. It’s not that she’s judgemental, or fussy, or difficult – she just expects things to be done in a certain way. A cutlery drawer should be arranged in the right order, for example (forks, knives, then spoons). We’re not animals, are we?

But behind the passive-aggressive, socially awkward, absurdly pedantic busybody is a woman who has more imagination, bigger dreams and a warmer heart than anyone around her realizes.

So when Britt-Marie finds herself unemployed, separated from her husband of 20 years, left to fend for herself in the miserable provincial backwater that is Borg – of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it – and somehow tasked with running the local football team, she is a little unprepared. But she will learn that life may have more to offer her that she’s ever realised, and love might be found in the most unexpected of places.

Travel Guide

Backman locations (c) Google

The map shows a few places associated with the author – he was born in Brännkyrka, grew up in Helsingbors and now lives in Solna, just north of Stockholm.

Borg

Borg – “of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it” is the setting of this story but judging by that description you will be pleased and not surprised to learn that it’s fictional.

This is where after a long marriage has broken up, Britt-Marie ends up as the caretaker of a recreation centre. Borg is not where you want to end up at any time of your life, particularly at a low point, since the town itself is dying and shops are closing down, businesses are closing down but the people…the people are what is going to make this stay the most memorable you’e ever had in a novel’s fictional setting.

“It’s not a place that could be described as one in a million, rather as one of millions of others”