Beartown

Paperback Published on: 03/05/2018
Price: £10.99
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Bookseller Reviews

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The Scandal
Full of emotional grit
In a small town where sport and loyalty to your team is everything, what happens when a scandal brews. Do you choose your team and the town or are you will... READ MORE
Chrys - Plymouth
Beartown
One of my Favourite Books this Year
Beartown is small a small town, pretty much unheard of and desperate to put itself back on the map. When a tragic event tears the town in two, who do you s... READ MORE
Rebekah
Beartown
A totally and utterly compelling thriller
An excellent read. Extremely well written and a book that you not only read, but feel aswell. Dark and brooding, quite like the lack of sunlight in the Swe... READ MORE
Laura Brown
Beartown
A new all time favourite book
Hi hello and welcome to my review (not really) of one of the best books I've ever read (yes, really) I'm serious. Beartown is one of the best books I have... READ MORE
Anna (readinginredlondon)

Synopsis

Beartown tells of a terrible crime that fractures a town and all of the people in it. When a bad thing happens, who will have the courage to stand against everyone else?

Late one evening towards the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead and pulled the trigger. This is the story of how we got there.

Beartown is a small town in a large Swedish forest. For most of the year it is under a thick blanket of snow, experiencing the kind of cold and dark that brings people closer together - or pulls them apart. Its isolation means that Beartown has been slowly shrinking with each passing year. But now the town is on the verge of an astonishing revival.

Everyone can feel the excitement. A bright new future is just around the corner. Until the day it is all put in jeopardy by a single, brutal act. It divides the town into those who think it should be hushed up and forgotten, and those who'll risk the future to see justice done.

At last, it falls to one young man to find the courage to speak the truth that it seems no one else wants to hear. With the town's future at stake, no one can stand by or stay silent. Everyone is on one side or the other. Which side would you be on?

Publisher information

  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
  • ISBN: 9781405930208
  • Number of pages: 496
  • Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 33 mm
  • Weight: 360g
  • Languages: English

Customer Reviews

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The Scandal
Beartown!
"It's a Friday in early March in Beartown and nothing has happened yet..." and so the story begins. It soon becomes clear that this book is more than just... READ MORE
Helena
The Scandal
A lot more here than meets the eye
I wouldn't have believed a book about a hockey town could have such depth of character and moral fiber. I am stunned and so very pleased to have read The S... READ MORE
KimG9
The Scandal
Stunning
'Late one evening towards the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead... READ MORE
Ellen-Arwen
Beartown
Ok if you like ice hockey
A number of characters in this book suggest if you don't love hockey you wouldn't understand. This is a shame as I have no interest at all in ice hockey an... READ MORE
jean
Beartown
A jumpy, fidgety narrative style spoiled this for me
I'm so disappointed that though I was predisposed to love this book, I just didn't. I suspect something might be lost in the translation as the prose feels... READ MORE
Roman Clodia
The Scandal
Backman is such a skilled story teller
I have experienced huge surges of emotion reading this book. From pride and fear to anger and hope, this is a book which will leave you quivering as you re... READ MORE
Mary Picken
Beartown
Breathtaking
I knew nothing about ice hockey and really have never wanted to know anything about it. If I had realised the book was about ice hockey I would probably no... READ MORE
Collette Mcgaahan
Beartown
Riveting
Ice hockey hurts. It bruises.It bludgeons. It tears ligaments. It can break bones. And if you lose, it can break hearts. These are the uncompromising fac... READ MORE
David Norman
Beartown
Memorable, insightful novel
'So the first thing that happens in a conflict is that we choose a side, because that's easier than trying to hold two thoughts in our heads at the same ti... READ MORE
Lindsay Healy
Beartown
All sorts of unexpected wonderfulness
I've read "A Man Called Ove", also by Backman and so I naively thought that I knew what to expect from this book, despite all the reviews I had hovered ove... READ MORE
Jessica Hinton
Beartown
Riveting
Ice hockey hurts. It bruises.It bludgeons. It tears ligaments. It can break bones. And if you lose, it can break hearts. These are the uncompromising fac... READ MORE
David Norman
The Scandal
Wonderful
If you have read A Man Called Ove by the same author be warned that this novel is nothing like it and, for me, way more brilliant. Ostensibly this is a boo... READ MORE
MoziDogReads
Beartown
Wow.
What can I say? Stunning. I’ve been hollowed out by, quite possibly, one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. What Backman creates and explores in ... READ MORE
Alex M.
Beartown
Missed the spot completely for me
This review will be concise on words because I didn’t enjoy it at all. I find myself surprised when I am so opposite to so many friends on this book. I do ... READ MORE
Micky - bookphenomena
Beartown
A novel of small town SWEDEN
The reader knows right from the outset that something will happen that will upset the relative harmony of this small town, set deep in a Swedish forest. It... READ MORE
TripFiction
Beartown
Powerful and emotional
Sometimes as the last page closes and you slowly ease yourself back into the now, a feeling of such profound emotion can take your breath away. Beartown is... READ MORE
Rob
Beartown
Amazing read
In a forest in Sweden two towns, Beartown & Hed, are at war. Their world revolves around ice hockey & the rivalry between the teams & the supporters seeps ... READ MORE
Maggie Macdonald