A charming, warmhearted novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller A Man Called Ove.
Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.
When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman’s bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.
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"Backman nails the child's voice in a way I have only felt 2 other times: Pictures of Hollis Woods and The Book Theif.Elsa is smart and kind and thoughtful and naive and prone to drawing the wrong conclusions simply because she doesn't have all the information. It's rare for children to be written so fully.It is also rare to see characters be allowed to unfold over an entire book. Slow and ungracefully. It's so realistic. This novel is almost beyond words."
— Julianne King (5 out of 5 stars)
“Believable and fanciful. Backman’s smooth storytelling infuses his characters with charm and wit…A delightful story.”
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch“An eclectic cast of characters, fairy-tale wisdom, and a little mystery…one of our favorite novels of the year so far.”
— SFGate.com“Precocious Elsa will easily work her way into the hearts of readers who like characters with spunk to spare. A delectable homage to the power of stories to comfort and heal…[and] tribute to the everlasting bonds of deep family ties.”
— Booklist (starred review)“Backman continues to write with the same whimsical charm and warm heart as in his debut.”
— Publishers Weekly“Full of heart, hope, forgiveness, and the embracing of differences, Elsa’s story is one that sticks with you long after you’ve turned the last page.”
— Library Journal“A touching, sometimes funny, often wise portrait of grief.”
— Kirkus Reviews“Joan Walker narrates this delightful novel with a perfect balance of reverence and playfulness…The story is populated with a rainbow of eccentric characters, and Walker provides each a distinct persona…the audiobook is utterly enchanting.”
— AudioFile" Wonderful! Funny, sweet and a lovely story. I thought the narrator did a beautiful job of the many different voices. "
— Jill, 7/29/2017Fredrik Backman is a Swedish author of the New York Times bestselling novel Beartown, as well as A Man Called Ove, and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, and Britt-Marie Was Here, among others. His books are published in more than forty countries and have sold more than ten million copies.
Joan Walker is a voice talent and an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator.