Britt-Marie was here by Fredrik Backman

Britt-Marie is a 63 year old, who has left her husband and is seeking a job. She hasn't known what it is to step out of her house all the time she lived with her husband ,Kent. She was devoted to keeping her house clean and taking care of Kent's children. It's like a realization that happens one fine day, when people start questioning her work experience and she realises that whatever she had done doesn't count anywhere as any kind of experience.

“One morning you wake up with more life behind you than in front of you, not being able to understand how it’s happened.”

Finally she ends up as a caretaker for a recreation center in Borg. Britt-Marie doesn't understand much, for her, anything and everything ultimately boils down to keeping yourself safe and clean. Anything that involves the slightest risk to the aforementioned isn't worth pursuing.

In Borg, she meets a bunch of kids who takes pride in the fact that they play football. A sport Britt-Marie doesn't understand or enjoy. But she has to be their coach and she is a person, who if given a job takes it rather seriously. Rest of the story is about ,Borg making its indelible impression in her life and vice versa.

The book is a delightful, heartfelt read. In Backman's books, you wait to dwell and soak in the profound insights he has to offer on life and relationships.

The book progressed at a snail's pace for me even though it's just a 300 page read. The same has been the case with his other books that I have read. I think it might probably be because the stories are so close to a life that's real where you can neither rush nor slow down. We don't have a command over it's pace, the same happens with his books for me. But the experience the book offers is worth it. The reason why it's hard to let go.

Wrapping up on this note:

"If a human being closes her eyes she can remember all the choices in her life. And realize they have all been for the sake of someone else."