We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

A Man Called Ove

Buy Now:

Audiobook Downloadable / ISBN-13: 9781444796216

Price: £21.99

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

The international phenomenon: quirky and bittersweet, heartbreaking yet outrageously funny. Perfect for fans of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of a Window and Disappeared.

The million-copy bestselling phenomenon: Soon to be a major film starring Tom Hanks.


Fredrik Backman’s heartwarming debut is a funny, moving, uplifting tale of love and community that will leave you with a spring in your step.

‘Warm, funny, and almost unbearably moving’ Daily Mail

At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots – neighbours who can’t reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d’etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents’ Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.

But isn’t it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so?

In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible…

‘Rescued all those men who constantly mean to read novels but never get round to it’ Spectator Books of the Year

(P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

What's Inside

Read More Read Less

Reviews

A warm and tender story about love, loss and second chances, peppered with memorable characters, wonderful set pieces and some beautifully black humour. Ove is a joy from start to finish.
Gavin Extence, author of <i>The Universe versus Alex Woods</i>
It's warm, funny, with the laughs based on a solid grasp of character; and ultimately almost unbearably moving.
Daily Mail
Delightful... there's a bit of Ove in all of us - which makes it the perfect holiday read.
Evening Standard
A charming debut...You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll feel new sympathy for the curmudgeons in your life. You'll also want to move to Scandinavia, where everything's cuter.
People
A Man Called Ove is exquisite. The lyrical language is the confetti thrown liberally throughout this celebration-of-life story, adding sparkle and color to an already spectacular party. Backman's characters feel so authentic that readers will likely find analogues living in their own neighborhoods.
Shelf Awareness starred review
Readers seeking feel-good tales with a message will rave about the rantings of this solitary old man with a singular outlook. If there was an award for 'Most Charming Book of the Year,' this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down.
Booklist, starred review
Delightful ... the perfect holiday read.
Evening Standard
It's the most enchanting, beautiful tale.
Ben Fogle
A warm and tender story about love, loss and second chances, peppered with memorable characters, wonderful set pieces and some beautifully black humour. Ove is a joy from start to finish.
Gavin Extence, author of <i>The Universe versus Alex Woods</i>
An uplifting, life-affirming and often comic tale of how kindness, love and happiness can be found in the most unlikely places.
Sunday Express
A charming debut.
People
A Man Called Ove is a wonderful novel that will stay with you . . . Ove's story has an underlying sadness which the author tackles with great warmth and humour . . . It's a bittersweet, heart-warming tale which will leave listeners with a restored faith in the power of friendship and perhaps even a love for cats.
Psychologies Magazine
Hilarious and heart-breaking.
Stylist
It's warm, funny, and ultimately almost unbearably moving.
Daily Mail
The most charming book you'll read this year ... This charming debut novel by Backman should find a ready audience with English-language readers . . . hysterically funny . . . wry descriptions, excellent pacing . . . In the contest of Most Winning Combination, it would be hard to beat grumpy Ove and his hidden, generous heart.
Kirkus
My absolute summer-reading must is A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman: perfect beach reading for a grumpy old man. It has all the minimalist delicacy of Stoner, but with a delicious wry wit. The book works on a very small scale, yet it sweeps through intense life dramas, all the while remaining funny, moving, uplifting...and a cracking good tale.
Rodney Bolt, author of <i>As Good as God, as Clever as the Devil: The Impossible Life of Mary Benson</i>
There is a method to the madness - by the end of this funny and touching book, you'll come round to Ove's way of thinking.
Mumsnet
A Man Called Ove finally rescued all those men who constantly mean to read novels but never get round to it. Crotchety old git Ove argues with neighbours, reluctantly inherits a cat, punches a clown and, by the end of the book, has you wanting to hug him.
Spectator BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Ove will upset us, cause us to be upset on his behalf and make us laugh till we daren't drink fluids and read simultaneously but by the end we're uplifted and don't want to go.
Bookbag
A Man Called Ove is exquisite. The lyrical language is the confetti thrown liberally throughout this celebration-of-life story, adding sparkle and colour to an already spectacular party. Backman's characters feel so authentic that readers will likely find analogues living in their own neighbourhoods.
Shelf Awareness, starred review
A funny crowd-pleaser that serves up laughs to accompany a thoughtful reflection on loss and love... The author writes with winning charm.
Publishers Weekly, starred review
Readers seeking feel-good tales with a message will rave about the rantings of this solitary old man with a singular outlook. If there was an award for 'Most Charming Book of the Year,' this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down.
Booklist, starred review