“Never trust people who don’t have something in their lives that they love beyond all reason.”
If you loved Beartown by Fredrik Backman, you know how powerful a story can be when it blends the intensity of sports with the complexities of small-town life. Backman’s novels are celebrated for their richly drawn characters, emotional depth, and thought-provoking explorations of community, friendship, and loyalty. But what if you’ve finished Beartown and are craving more books like it? Whether you’re looking for novels about small towns with big drama, emotional sports stories, or character-driven contemporary fiction, there’s a wealth of compelling reads that capture the same heartfelt intensity. Today at What We Reading, we’re curating a list of the best books like Beartown – perfect for fans of Fredrik Backman or anyone searching for stories that explore relationships, coming-of-age struggles, and the ties that bind a community together. Dive in and discover your next unforgettable read.
Beartown Summary
People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever-encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the founders of the town. The town’s junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. But being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is soon the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatised and a town in turmoil.
Beartown is a story that explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found an entire world.
Beartown Book Series In Order
Beartown (2016) – Beartown #1
Us Against You (2017) – Beartown #2
The Winners (2022) – Beartown #3
A Place For Us – Fatima Farheen Mirza
First up on our list of books like Beartown is Fatima Farheen Mirza’s bestseller, A Place for Us. A Place for Us unfolds the lives of an Indian-American family, gathered together in their Californian hometown to celebrate the eldest daughter, Hadia’s, wedding – a match of love, rather than tradition.
It is here, on this momentous occasion, that Amar, the youngest of the siblings, reunites with his family for the first time in three years. Rafiqu and Layla must now contend with the choices and betrayals that led to their son’s estrangement – the reckoning of parents who strove to pass on their cultures and traditions to their children; and of the children who, in turn, struggle to balance authenticity in themselves with loyalty to the home they came from.
Check Out The Best Books Like A Place For Us
The Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman
After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns home and takes a job as a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.
Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgement, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.
The Art Of Racing In The Rain – Garth Stein
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver.
Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn’t just about going fast. On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through. Similar to Beartown, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a heart-wrenching, deeply funny, and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope.
The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon
Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary records every birth, death, crime, and debacle that unfolds in this close-knit community. The body in the ice is one of the town’s most respected gentlemen, who had recently been involved in an alleged assault. Martha is forced to investigate the shocking discovery on her own.
Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the heart of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie. Tender, layered and subversive, The Frozen River is a story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.
Check Out The Best Books Like The Frozen River
The Secret Keeper – Kate Morton
During a picnic at her family’s farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicholson witnesses a shocking crime, a crime that upends everything she knows about her adored mother, Dorothy.
Now, fifty years on, Laurel and her sisters are meeting at the farm to celebrate Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realising that this is her last chance to discover the truth about that long-ago day, Laurel searches for answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past. Clue by clue, she traces a secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds thrown together in war-torn London – Dorothy, Vivian, and Jimmy – whose lives are forever entwined. A gripping story of deception and passion, The Secret Keeper is one of the best follow-ups to read after Beartown.
Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is a powerful, emotional novel that spans generations, exploring how family, history, and identity are moulded by the past. Starting in eighteenth-century Ghana, the story orbits around two half-sisters – Effia and Esi – whose lives take drastically different paths. Effia marries a British coloniser, while Esi is sold into slavery and shipped to America.
From there, Homegoing traces their descendants across centuries, weaving together deeply personal stories that reveal the lasting impact of colonialisation, racism, and family separation. Much like Beartown, this is a deeply character-driven work that examines community, resilience, and the ties that bind people together through hardship and love.
The Names – Florence Knapp
In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register the birth of her son. Her husband, Gordon, respected in the community but a controlling presence at home, intends for her to follow a long-standing tradition and name the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates…
Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of their lives, shaped by Cora’s last-minute choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing, perfect for anyone who loved some of the similar themes in Beartown.
Cutting For Stone – Abraham Verghese
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.
Yet it will be love, not politics – their passion for the same woman – that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in an underfunded New York City hospital. When the past catches up with him, Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world. Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable journey of one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.
The Snow Child – Eowyn Ivey
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart. In a moment of levity during the season’s first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning, the snow is gone – but they glimpse a young, blond-haired girl running through the trees.
This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who has stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. Yet in its beautiful, violent place, things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually discover about Faina will transform them all.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry – Fredrik Backman
Another one of the best books by Fredrik Backman, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, is a story about life and death, and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different. Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy. She is also Elsa’s best 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 no one needs to be normal.
When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologising to the 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 truly like no other.
Check Out These Winter-Themed Books To Cosy Up With
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
