A Man Called Ove

by Fredrik Backman

‘She’s drawn you,’ Parvaneh replies, and shoves it into his hands. Ove gives the paper a reluctant look. It’s filled with lines and swirls. ‘That’s Jimmy, and that’s the cat and that’s Patrick and me. And that’s you,’ explains Parvaneh. When she says that last bit she points at a figure in the middle of the drawing. Everything else on the paper is drawn in black, but the figure in the middle is a veritable explosion of colour. A riot of yellow and red and blue and green and orange and purple. ‘You’re the funniest thing she knows. That’s why she always draws you in colour,’ says Parvaneh. Then she closes the passenger door and walks off. It takes several seconds before Ove collects himself enough to call out after her: ‘What do you mean, “always”?’ But by then they have all started walking back to the houses.