The tender and moving novella from the 18 million copy internationally bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, Anxious People and My Friends, the Sunday Times Bestseller and Goodreads Choice Awards Fiction 2025 winner!
‘I read this beautifully imagined and moving novella in one sitting, utterly wowed, wanting to share it with everyone I know’ Lisa Genova, New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice
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Grandpa and Noah are sitting on a bench in a square that keeps getting smaller every day.
As they wait together on the bench, they tell jokes and discuss their shared love of mathematics. Grandpa recalls what it was like to fall in love with his wife, what it was like to lose her. She’s as real to him now as the first day he met her, but he dreads the day when he won’t remember her.
Sometimes Grandpa sits on the bench next to Ted, Noah’s father – Ted who never liked maths, prefers writing and playing guitar, and has waited his entire life for his father to have time for him, to accept him. But in their love of Noah, they have found a common bond.
Grandpa, Ted and Noah all meet here, in this peculiar space that is growing dimmer and more confusing all the time.
And here is where they will learn to say goodbye, the scent of hyacinths in the air, nothing to fear.
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‘Winsome, bittersweet . . . Wise and heartbreaking, Backman’s slim novella celebrates the joy of connecting even in the midst of letting go’ People Magazine
