Lucy Barton returns in Lucy by the Sea, with the same likeable and informal tone that author Elizabeth Strout brought to the earlier novels in which she appears. This time around, Lucy cancels her European book tour on a gut feeling just before the pandemic shuts down the world, and at the urging of her ex-husband and good friend, William, she joins him in a seaside rented house in Maine to wait out the lockdowns. Of course this takes longer than expected, and as Lucy meets new people in Maine (at a six foot distance) and worries about her adult daughters and their husbands, Strout captures something very authentic and worthy of noting about the pandemic experience. Lucy eventually reaches some profound conclusions about life in her declining years and Strout seems to be using this novel to look back and tie together her own lifetime of thought and writing. Short and sweet and engagingly relevant, this was a pleasure to read.

Another visit with Lucy & William. This time during covid lockdown, so obviously a bit dreary. I don't know why I keep reading these, because I don't like either character. I do like the author's writing though. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I really enjoyed this book! It hooked me from the very first chapter, and kept me hooked the entire time!

This is Elizabeth Strout at her best and I just loved every word. At first I thought, do I want to relive the first year of the pandemic as we are so far in? The craziness of it all? Why people left the city and haven't come back? I don't want to give any spoilers but without telling us, I guessed from the beginning what was going to happen. But Elizabeth is such a good writer and story teller, you want to just yell, hey, how did you pull that thought and sentiment out of my head.? It was just a great book!