Britt-Marie Was Here Book Club Questions & Discussion Guide

About this book

Britt-Marie is a fastidious, socially awkward woman in her sixties who has spent decades shrinking herself inside a marriage. When she finally leaves her husband, she takes a caretaker job in the dying town of Borg and, to her own horror, ends up coaching a ragtag team of soccer-mad children. Funny and quietly moving, it is a story about self-worth, starting over late in life, and a woman and a town that have both been written off.

Discussion questions

1. Britt-Marie is fastidious, socially awkward, and quietly insists she is not passive-aggressive. What was your first impression of her, and had your feelings shifted by the end?
2. The book follows Britt-Marie as she starts over in a dying town. If it took you a while to warm to her, what pulled you in, the humor, the soccer kids, or the town of Borg?
3. After decades of shrinking herself inside a marriage, Britt-Marie has to figure out who she is on her own. Where did you see her begin to change, and what did it cost her?
4. Leaving Kent means giving up the only life Britt-Marie has known. Did you understand her hesitation, and where did you land on the choices she makes about her marriage?
5. The book is about self-worth and starting over late in life, and about a town and a woman who both feel written off. What did it ultimately say about second chances?
6. Backman finds real comedy in Britt-Marie's fussiness, her lists, and her cleaning. How did the humor coexist with the loneliness underneath, and did it deepen your sympathy for her?
7. Borg is a shrinking, forgotten place, and the children's soccer team becomes its unlikely heart. How did the setting shape Britt-Marie's transformation?
8. Britt-Marie is another of Backman's prickly, lovable outsiders. Did she remind you of another late bloomer in fiction, or of someone you know who found themselves later than expected?
9. Britt-Marie has to learn that it is not too late to want more from life. Did the book make you think about reinvention at any age, and did anyone at the table see it differently?
10. Who would you hand this to next, the reader who loves a quiet transformation or someone who enjoyed A Man Called Ove, and who might it not be for?

Themes to listen for

• Self-worth and starting over late in life
• Second chances for a person and a place
• The loneliness beneath a fussy exterior
• Belonging and being written off
• Community and unlikely connection

If your club liked this, try…

• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
• The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley

Where to get it

• Check availability at your local library
• Find it on Bookshop.org
• Listen on Libro.fm

Practical notes

Best for clubs that love a quiet late-life transformation, and a gentle, warm read. Note: Britt-Marie first appears in My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, and some readers like to read that one first, though this stands alone.