My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises

By: Fredrik Backman

Narrated by: Joan Walker

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

The hilarious, heart-breaking novel by the author of the international best seller A Man Called Ove.

Granny has been telling fairy tales for as long as Elsa can remember. In the beginning they were only to make Elsa go to sleep, to get her to practise Granny's secret language, and a little because Granny is just about as nutty as a granny should be. But lately the stories have another dimension as well. Something Elsa can't quite put her finger on....

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is 77 years old and crazy. Standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus crazy. She is also Elsa's best and only friend.

At night Elsa runs to her grandmother's stories, to the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas. There everybody is different, and nobody needs to be normal.

So when Elsa's grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has hurt, it marks the beginning of Elsa's greatest adventure. Her grandmother's letters lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and totally ordinary old crones - but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman's best-selling 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.

©2015 Fredrik Backman (P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton

Magical Experience

Loved this book narrated by the most perfect little 7, almost 8 year old, girl. The love for her Grandmother had me in tears and laughs altogether. I enjoyed the witty humour and love for proper grammar. One of the most enjoyable books I've ever got the honour of experiencing!

Best storie

I love this author and the narrator. Hooked from the very start! He has a talent to tell a storie!!

Loved it!

I started off thinking it was for children but ended up listening to the end and enjoying it

Elsa is my hero!

What made the experience of listening to My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises the most enjoyable?

The characters! So vividly described. You can't help but root for each one of them. Especially Elsa and Granny.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Elsa because of her courage and her wisdom despite being almost eight years-old. And Granny because she's mad in the best possible way.

Which character – as performed by Joan Walker – was your favorite?

Elsa - her voice resonates clearly thanks to Joan Walker.

Who was the most memorable character of My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises and why?

Granny because she's a fireball who lived her life to the brim and by her own rules.

Any additional comments?

I love everything by Fredrik Backman so far, all two of his audiobooks The first one was "A Man Called Ove" and this one is my second purchase. Looking forward to more great works by this brilliant author and the talented narrator too.

This one is something different.

I just finished this book for the third or fourth time and can confidently say this book will stay with me forever.

This book taught me to stop taking everything so seriously, to enjoy the things I have in life and not to get worked up in things that stress me out (because it’s much too easy to get worked up in things that stress us out). It taught me the importance of keeping the child in all of us alive, the snarky but honest child who is only sometimes a shit and tries their best to be not a shit.

One of my favourite books, excellent narration

I've loved this story since reading it in ebook format, and I love the audiobook version just as much. Joan Walker's narration is a perfect match for Fredrik Backman's tapestry masterpiece of a story, as she voices characters with deceptive ease. One realises soon, in the unfolding of this novel, that a seven-year old's life experience can sometimes be far richer and multi-dimensional than those of many adults. And that is one of the things that makes Fredrik Backman an outstanding writer: He takes the least likely people or the individuals that dwell on the fringes of society, fleshes them out, and turns them into unforgetable characters. I would highly recommend this book.

Struggled to finish but was worth it in the end

Love Backman, and the narrator was excellent. The first half of the book is hard to get into, I think the fantasy aspect didn't translate well into audio book, but the second half picked up and i laughed and cried and was grateful I pushed through