The winners - fredrik backman

Return to the close-knit, resilient community of Beartown with this engrossing page-turner ( Womans World ) about first loves, second chances, and last goodbyes--from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People and A Man Called Ove .

Over the course of two weeks, everything in Beartown will change.

Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about.

Everyone has tried to move on, but theres something about this place that prevents it.

The destruction caused by a ferocious late-summer storm reignites the old rivalry between Beartown and the neighboring town of Hed, a rivalry which has always been fought through their ice hockey teams.

Maya Andersson and Benji Ovich, two young people who left in search of a better life, come home and joyfully reunite with their closest childhood friends.

There is a new sense of optimism and purpose in the town, embodied in the impressive new ice rink that has been built down by the lake.

Mayas parents, meanwhile, are caught up in an investigation of the hockey clubs murky finances, and Amat--once the star of the Beartown team--has lost his way after an injury and a failed attempt to get drafted into the NHL.

Simmering tensions between the two towns turn into acts of intimidation and then violence.

All the while, a fourteen-year-old boy grows increasingly alienated from this hockey-obsessed community and is determined to take revenge on the people he holds responsible for his beloved sisters death.

He has a pistol and a plan that will leave Beartown with a loss that is almost more that it can stand.

Discover what it means to forgive with this hell of a conclusion to an outstanding series ( Booklist , starred review).