Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I loved this book, enjoyed the storyline and all the characters. Would highly recommend.

What a joy and delight to have a new novel from Elizabeth Strout. And, one that reintroduces us to Lucy Barton one of her most enigmatic creations and my personal favourite.

What is so incredible about Elizabeth's Stroud's writing is her ability to to make her writing so real and fresh. Such a skill.

Beautifully written this is the story of how, when you have been married and had children together, you are always linked to that person. Even when you have new partners and possibly even more children. How important it is to be civilised and generous.

Here we follow William and Lucy as they review their childhood and memories. Thought provoking both for us and the two key protagonists.

A wonderful novel.

Perhaps because I have not read the books that came before this one, I didn't really enjoy it, sorry. I just didn't like the writing style and thought all the characters very unsympathetic. To me, this is a something of nothing book, also very repetitive. I've seen everyone else give it 4/5 stars, so I'm guessing it's just me.

After My Name Is Lucy Barton and Anything Is Possible, this is a must read. She writes so beautifully.

Fantastic fantastic fantastic
After reading the last 2 books in the series I was excited to read Oh William!
Oh, William! captures the joy and sorrow of watching children grow up and start families of their own; of discovering family secrets, late in life, that alter everything we think we know about those closest to us; and the way people live and love, against all odds. At the heart of this story is the unforgettable, indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who once again offers a profound, lasting reflection on the mystery of existence. 'This is the way of life,' Lucy says. 'The many things we do not know until it is too late. Fantastic read and definitely a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So if you’re a massive Elizabeth Strout fan like I am, then her eagerly awaited new novel ‘Oh William’ (Out in October) is going to knock your socks right off and have you swinging them around in pure joy. Yes. That good.
❤️
If you haven’t read ‘My name is Lucy Barton’ (Amazeballs) then I’d probably say read that first THEN this, as ‘Oh William’ is basically the follow up.
❤️
The backdrop is New York (Squeal). William and Lucy are divorced, in their mid/late 60s with two grown up daughters. They’ve both moved on from their divorce and have remarried. Gwyneth would happily agree they have ‘consciously uncoupled’.
❤️
But then William’s wife leaves him and Lucy’s new husband dies. And suddenly, you see them thrown into a situation where they are relying on each other for support. And this I guess is the crux of what the book is about. How William and Lucy navigate their relationship as a divorced couple beyond the #itscomplicated lens.
❤️
It made me think a lot about my own relationship with my exes. It made me think about the importance of family and the memories we keep and carry with us - the good and the bad. But more than anything - it made me think of LOVE. I was so full of it by the end, all I could do was smile and yes, I did. I did shed a tear.
❤️
<EXTRACT FROM BOOK>
William pulled the car over to the side of the road. He stayed quiet and he looked at me. I almost looked away because it had been years since he had looked at me for such a long time. Then he said, “Lucy, I married you because you were filled with joy, You were just filled with joy…you’re unique, Lucy. You’re a spirit…There has never been anyone in the world like you”. In a moment he added, “You steal people’s hearts’, Lucy”.
❤️
This book is a keeper. For reals.
❤️

Once again, Elizabeth Strout pulls off a work of startling depth. The way she captures not only the character of Lucy Barton, but captures the minutiae of life is amazing.

Reading the books that include Lucy Barton makes you feel you are on the page with her. Living in the rooms she inhabits. She see the wallpaper. You smell the kitchen. And you watch as the day darkens.

A great book.

Lucy Barton’s second husband has died, but in this beautiful novel she is called back into the life of her first husband, William. He needs her help to look into a family secret that involves them taking a trip back into his past.
Strout has developed Lucy’s character so beautifully - she is simple but complicated and has a depth of character that makes her completely believable and sympathetic.
Written in the first person in Lucy’s voice, this is about the struggle to make sense of one’s life and the joy as well as the pain of living.
Strout’s novels are slight but they are full of insight and pathos.
Recommended for anyone who is interested in how humans make sense of their lives.

I was so excited to be asked by the publishers to read and review this latest offering from Elizabeth Strout. Having loved I am Lucy Barton it was great to be back in her life and find out what had happened since we had last seen her and while this story is told by Lucy, the subject is her ex husband William. Told in Strout’s trademark spare prose with not a word out of place this is the heartbreaking story of what happens when you realise there is very little of your life left to look forward to, but every minute of it to look back on.
William has discovered via a DNA genealogy kit that his late mother was hiding a secret and decides to go on a road trip to explore this previously untold family story. Having just lost her second husband Lucy can’t see much of a reason to say no when William asks her to accompany him. And there you are. That is pretty much the plot in a nutshell but people don’t read Strout’s novels for racy plot lines, car chases and jaw dropping moments you never saw coming, but for the insights and wisdom given by her characters and I’m so pleased that with this novel we are back with an elderly character which to me is where Strout completely triumphs. I believe I said it in my review of Olive, Again but it can’t repeated too often; so few writers today are writing about characters in their 70’s and beyond and those that do just aren’t doing it as well.
In the car, in motels and diners Lucy ruminates over the age old topics of love and what builds a successful relationship, of family bonds and how strong or flimsy they can be and how that influences the person you become and how much you should or shouldn’t place your happiness or security on another human being’s shoulders.

My thanks to Elizabeth Strout, Penguin and Net Galley for the ARC of OH WILLIAM!
I've read Elizabeth's other books and absolutely love the spare, personal writing that is this author's signature. Oh William is written in the same way. The author tweaks out the tiniest bits of character that make all the difference to the reader. It's only when we read books like this that we realise how books should be written; the prose doesn't need to be lengthy and floral. The story is important of course, the aching angst that the characters experience sometimes in utter silence is heartbreaking, but it's about the words. It's all about the words.

Oh William is a deeply moving novel beautifully written. This is a reflective story that examines the breakup of Lucy and William’s marriage but also who they are. There is a mystery element to the story because when William receives an ancestry app as a birthday gift he delves into his family past and discovers he has a half sibling. Lucy recently widowed after her second marriage is persuaded to take a road trip of discovery with William , father of her two grown up daughters, and ex husband. This leads to a reflection on who William’s mother really was, a consideration of mother and child bonding, and is it necessarily a good thing to make discoveries about a past you had not experienced, that existed before your past. This is an uplifting and thought provoking family story. It draws you into the story’s personalities , is subtly written and makes one realise that every human being has their own special and particular history and unique existence. We all change and hopefully mellow with time’s passage. Oh William is a very wise and lingering novel. This reader loved it.

What a joy it has been to be back in the company of Lucy Barton and her gently thoughtful approach to life. Lucy’s second husband David has died and she is back supporting her first husband William through a very challenging time in his life. All her old irritations with William are still there, but being Lucy, she supports him anyway, and gives him the benefits of her wisdom, calmness and insight. The writing style is flowing and Lucy’s internal monologue is endlessly fascinating. For those who have not read the previous two Lucy Barton books, it might be a little confusing at the start of this one, but the easiest solution is to read the others first - you have a real treat in store!

I so enjoyed this, hearing more about William (who had been something of a mystery in the previous two books) and just as much more about Lucy’s life. We are back in the first person here, Lucy telling her story in vignettes in the margins of William’s. As a result it is more direct as Lucy strives to explain what happened as truthfully as she can, memories coming back to her as she goes along. A little bit of me yearned for the oblique touch of ‘Anything is Possible’ - short stories about other people in which Lucy features sometimes just in passing. I think that is Elizabeth Strout’s strength - the interwoven nature of the characters and the tiniest gesture conveying so much emotion - here we have the emotion more to the fore.

The main thing I will take away and mull over from Lucy’s telling of her relationships with her former husband William and his mother Catherine is the fact that ideas we have clung to all our lives can be proved to be wrong and how devastating, yet liberating, that can be. Perhaps William should remain as much of a mystery to us as he does to Lucy.

A wonderful trilogy, highly recommended. I’d suggest reading the first two books before this one, not absolutely necessary but I think it would enhance the experience.

Strout renews our acquaintance with Lucy Barton. We find her recently widowed and grieving for the loss of her beloved David. In the way that grief does, feelings about other losses arise and a reassessment of her life. Lucy ends up spending more time with her ex -husband William, who is in another marriage. A secret that emerges sends them both on an unexpected journey with unforeseen consequences.

Some authors write dialogue , but Strout writes "speech". The narrator is Lucy herself and there is a stream of consciousness narrative. I felt like I was sitting listening to Lucy, so strong was the evocation of her thoughts with those asides, "wandering" off subject that we all use when speaking.

Another skill Strout has is to dissect the ambiguities that are at the heart of all relationships. Lucy feels fond of William and is able to remember the love and companionship she found with him, whilst simultaneously being infuriated by him and angry at his betrayal. A telling small event is when William wears trousers that are too short and Lucy's reaction to this. Of such small details is marriage often made.

Lucy herself has her own complications as she tries to make sense of her abusive childhood, whilst also having a sudden recollection of being in a car happy with her Dad with the wind blowing in her hair. She constantly repeats she came from nothing and that growing up in the environment she did, has left her with no frame of reference culturally.
However she is outwardly a successful author and mother to two daughters who seem well adjusted. Her mental health can be precarious she has moments of "absence" and depression, a sort of stonewalling that William still doesn't know how to deal with.

This is just a glimpse into the whole complexity of this character and in her interactions with other characters like William's mother, Catherine Cole, there are infinite reflections and refractions that add to the picture of Lucy in all her flawed human glory.

The style is less elliptical than Lucy Barton and Lucy is a different "kettle of fish" from the strong- minded Olive Kitteridge. The book doesn't have much of a "plot" as such, it's essentially a character study, but oh what a character !
When I got to the end, I couldn't believe it. I felt bereft like I did when Cromwell was executed in Mantel's trilogy- who is a writer of equal skill, power and quality. She is able to dissect the contradictions we all have in out thoughts and the gap between thought and action.

A 5 Star writer.

Lucy Barton is a successful writer living in New York, navigating the second half of her life as a recent widow and parent to two adult daughters. A surprise encounter leads her to reconnect with William, her first husband - and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. Recalling their college years, the birth of their daughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people, Strout weaves a portrait, stunning in its subtlety, of a tender, complex, decades-long partnership.

I raced through reading this and it proved to be the perfect read to get swept away in. Strout has such a moving writing style and involves the reader perfectly. This read features the beloved Lucy Barton once again and it is always a joy to catch up with her and her family and see what amusing tales they have to share this time around. Reading a book by Strout is just so enjoyable and I know when I start one that I will fall in love with it.

Strout always captures human emotions perfectly; it is incredibly raw and realistic. This book in particular, felt a lot more emotional than others, I thought there was more happening in this read and definitely more emotional events to cover. Strout covers a wide range in this and I marvelled at the way the emotions are put on paper and conveyed so beautifully by Lucy Barton.

'Oh William' is another thoroughly enjoyable, beautifully written read and one that I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for an advance copy.

Such a curious read! I adore Elizabeth Strout's writing style and while I wouldn't say this one was my favourite it was a beautifully written novel nonetheless. Lucy and her ex husband William delve into his past to find, see, discover his older half sister. On a road trip togethers there re some laugh out loud moments: from Lucy's continual end for food to William's too short trousers. We go back and forth between current day to when they were married and how they came to split. Interestingly there are echos of the past in William's relationship with his mother and also in his relationship with Lucy, it was beautifully, delicately described throughout the book and holds up a mirror to the needless expectations society places on class and where we have come from. I loved the pay off and the decision their daughters made too. A sweet read.

When I got a note from Penguin/Viking inviting me to dive back into another Elizabeth Strout book I couldn't accept fast enough. Most will be familiar with the brisk tones of Olive Kitteridge but Lucy Barton is just as singular if a softer personality and I was absorbed in her story immediately. Strout captures characters like flies in amber, unique and perfectly formed. These are women that you hear and see, nodding along as they hold conversations like friends. Lucy rambles, loses her train of thought and circles a bit until finally getting back to her original point, her anecdotes stuffed with both useless details and astonishing wisdom. She's an older woman but she gets there eventually. Just like Olive, she is endearing.

Already I have made calls to announce the book is coming out in the autumn, and preordered copies for others to enjoy. Oh William is clever little masterpiece of simple fiction. There is no aha moment or neat end. I like the void that we are left with as readers to fill as we see fit and even if there is no revisiting Lucy I can't wait to see what comes next.

4.25 stars

As with so many people,I was excited to hear there was a new Strout book coming,and even more so to hear it revisits past characters,.
This was all I'd hoped for.
The narration was pitch perfect,and felt like an old friend catching me up at times. I genuinely heard different tones in the "oh William" said at frequent intervals.
Whilst keeping us up to date with Lucy and family,it brings back the brutal childhood we've read about before.
It was a sequel I didn't know I needed.

Reading an Elizabeth Strout novel is like having tea with an old friend. Her voice is so personal it is as if someone is talking directly to you, telling you about themselves in an open and honest manner. Lucy Barton is the protagonist in this novel although it is as much about her first husband, William, as it is about her. We have of course met Lucy before as she features in more of Strout's work both as a principal character in the eponymous Lucy Barton and as a secondary character in other work such as Anything is Possible.

Lucy is now in her seventies and a highly successful writer. Her beloved second husband David, has died and she reconnects with her first husband William (not in a romantic way). He is going through a difficult period and they go on a road trip together to find a hitherto unknown member of his family. In so doing she reflects on their relationship.

As in all Elizabeth Strout novels, nothing much happens, Except life. That is the beauty of them. They are quiet and understated and above all, real. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

As a newcomer to this author’s work, I wasn’t sure what to expect other than that this is a highly rated writer by all and sundry. However, I must confess that I found this hard going for the first few chapters, with so many characters introduced. At first it seemed like a fictionalised autobiography, but then the intimacy of the narrative turned the reading experience into that of reading someone’s diary, which is a clever feat to pull off. This may be due to the ‘authority’ of the writer’s voice, which is mentioned in the text as necessary for a feeling of authenticity - and which finally engaged me with Lucy Barton’s story.