My Friends

My Friends (2025), by Swedish author Fredrik Backman, tells the story of four teenagers who form a powerful bond that ends up changing a stranger’s life in the future. The narrative unfolds across two timelines, linking the present-day life of a young girl named Louisa with the teenage years of four friends whose fierce loyalty lays the groundwork for an enduring story about Art and Human Connection, The Value of Friendship, and The Relationship Between Grief and Healing. Backman’s breakthrough novel, A Man Called Ove (2012), became an international phenomenon, translated into more than 40 languages and adapted into both Swedish and American films. Since then, Backman has authored several bestselling novels, including My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry (2013), Britt-Marie Was Here (2014), Beartown (2016)—which was adapted into a five-episode miniseries in 2020 called Björnstad—and Anxious People (2019). 

This guide is based on the 2025 Atria Books e-book edition. 

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of bullying, anti-gay bias, self-harm, child abuse, suicidal ideation, sexual violence, mental illness, substance use, addiction, illness, death, and physical and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

Seventeen-year-old Louisa runs away from her foster home and breaks into a posh art auction with a backpack full of spray paint to protest against the commodification of art. She also wants to steal a glance at the famous painting The One of the Sea, by C. Jat, which features four friends sitting on a pier. Louisa has always dreamed of seeing it in person, and she carries a postcard with the reproduction of the artwork in her backpack. 

Mourning the loss of her best friend Fish, Louisa paints a small red fish on the wall next to the painting and gets thrown out by security. In the alleyway, Louisa graffities the wall, revealing her artistic talent. She encounters a man who is ill and discovers that the man is “C. Jat,” whose real name is Kimkim, and he is dying. The police arrive, and Louisa runs and hides in a car. A man named Ted, who has attended the auction to purchase the painting, advises the police not to arrest C. Jat because he is a famous artist. Kimkim instructs Ted, one of his closest friends, to locate Louisa and deliver the painting to her. Kimkim dies and is cremated. 

The next day is Louisa’s 18th birthday, and Ted tracks her down and gives her the painting. He tells her that he is one of the figures in the painting and has been living with Kimkim while he was sick. Louisa doesn’t want the painting because it’s too valuable, and she doesn’t have a home to keep it safe in. She follows Ted, who is taking Kimkim’s ashes back to their hometown, to the train station and forces him to allow her to come with him. Ted reluctantly agrees and says he knows someone who can help her sell the painting. 

They board the train, and Louisa sketches during their journey. Though initially annoyed by her, Ted realizes that Kimkim saw something in her, and he feels he must care for her to honor his friend’s wishes. Louisa wants to know the history of the painting and the artist, so Ted begins the story.

Another timeline, set 25 years ago, begins. Ted meets Kimkim and his best friend Joar. Another friend, Ali, joins their group after she and her father move into town. The friends are inseparable, bonded through the shared experience of poverty and complicated home lives. Ted’s father has terminal cancer, and his brother bullies him. Joar’s father is an abusive man with a substance use disorder. Kimkim’s parents think he isn’t “normal” because he doesn’t like to be touched, and they emotionally abandon him. Ali’s mother is dead, and her father is irresponsible and rarely pays the bills, leaving them without food and utilities. Since Ted’s home is the safest and has food, they often congregate there; however, their favorite spot is an abandoned pier where they swim and sit, talking and watching the sea.

All the friends worry about Kimkim, who is bullied at school. Joar defends him, often fighting others to protect him, but they all worry that he might resort to self-harm. Kimkim’s only comfort is his love of drawing, though he doesn’t see himself as an artist. He hides his drawings, which often feature nude men and religious imagery that he believes no one else will understand or appreciate. 

Joar learns about an art contest in which the winner’s art will be featured in the local art gallery. He insists that Kimkim create a painting and enter the competition, claiming it will be his ticket to fame and a chance to escape the town. Kimkim doesn’t have paint, brushes, or a canvas, and no money to purchase them, so the friends hatch a plan to get money to buy him supplies.

Joar’s father’s abuse of him and his mother is so bad that he resolves that the only way they will survive is if he kills his father. Joar begins carrying around a knife, waiting for the right moment. Ted’s father dies, and his brother begins drinking heavily and takes a job on the dock where all the men in town work. Kimkim befriends the school janitor, Christian, and together they create a mural on a wall behind the school. Christian dies from substance use, and the group meets his mother, who was an art history teacher.

Joar’s mom buys him a bicycle for his birthday, and he sells it, giving the money to Kimkim for supplies. Joar’s father sustains a head injury at his job on the docks and nearly dies. While Joar’s father is in the hospital, Kimkim finishes the painting. He signs it “C. Jat,” the initials of Christian and his friends. However, Joar discovers that the contest is only for children, disqualifying Kimkim. 

The friends break into the museum to hang the artwork on the wall, but the security guard catches them. Christian’s mom rescues them by vouching that the painting is theirs. After seeing more of Kimkim’s work, she helps him gain admission to art school. Joar’s father comes home a different person, and his mother cares for him until his death. She remarries, and Joar remains at their home.

Ted begins visiting Christian’s mom to use her library, and she inspires him to become a teacher. Ali and her father move to another town, where she takes up surfing, but later drowns at sea. After art school, Kimkim returns home and takes care of his parents until their deaths. 

After that, at Joar’s insistence, he leaves to travel the world and never returns. He becomes a renowned artist, and his early works, including portraits of his friends, become highly sought after and valuable. Despite his success, Kimkim still has mental health issues and develops a substance use disorder. Ted becomes a teacher, but when he tries to break up a fight at his school, he is stabbed by a student and leaves his job. Kimkim becomes ill, and Ted, who loves him, comes to visit and stays to care for him until his death.

Back in the present day, Ted and Louisa arrive in his hometown and go to Joar’s home. While Joar tells Louisa the rest of their story, Ted picks up Christian’s mom and brings her to Joar’s house. Louisa learns that after his dad’s death, Joar went to prison for assaulting a man he saw abusing his wife. He is on house arrest and is required to wear an ankle bracelet. He remained in contact with Kimkim via phone, but they never saw each other in person. Joar loved Ali and never fully recovered from losing her.

Christian’s mother offers to help Louisa sell the painting. Instead, they break into the museum and hang it on the wall. Christian’s mom helps Louisa apply to art school, and Ted pays for it, as he has become like a father to her. After art school, Louisa becomes a famous artist just like Kimkim and travels the world. Ted becomes a teacher for incarcerated people, and Louisa encourages him to write a book about his life.