Thank you Netgalley. While reading this book, I experienced so many different feelings, including the displacement of lives during the beginning of the pandemic when no one knew what was going on or what would happen. Even Olive Kittredge makes a cameo appearance. I realized while reading this book that it helped to have read Strout's other books because in this book a community is forming. I hope Lucy returns again. She is a woman who doesn't know her own mind and stays open to see what will happen next. She lets herself not know things and be okay with that. She leaves NYC to go to Maine with William and is still a year away from the death of her second husband. So much happens in Maine where she spends the pandemic. Both William and she go through a lot with their grown children and that is where the emotional core lies.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The topic was timely in that it was about isolating from New York City at the beginning of the pandemic. Lucy didn't understand the seriousness of the virus but her ex-husband did and he insisted that she come with him to a village in Maine, where they rented an old house from a friend of his. The story covers the first year of the pandemic - the changes Lucy and her family made - and all the changes in their world. Reading the book was like talking to a friend about how she was dealing with the isolation, the different climate, the difficulties her daughters were facing, the deaths in her friend and family circles, her new relationship with her ex-husband. So much of it I could relate to and understand.
Strout touched on a number of political events in the US - George Floyd, BLM protests, rioting and burning in US cities, the 2020 election, the Washington riot - but she had Lucy avert her eyes from the things she couldn't deal with. She spent more time on the events and people closer to her, which I think most people would do.
I look forward to reading more of Elizabeth Strout's writing.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. The opinions expressed are my own and I was not compensated for writing this review.

"Oh Lucy, come on. I sit here and think over my life, and I think, Who have I been? I have been an idiot."

"In what way?" I asked him.

Oh Lucy! Such a wonderfully told story, like falling back in love with someone you knew and held dearly in the past. The familiar way you fit into one another. Know the other's likes and dislikes. That's how Lucy is to me. Of course William will protect, care for her and ultimately love her. When pandemic comes very close to home in NYC they are there for one another. Just as it should be!

I loved this book so much. It can be difficult to read about the pandemic while still reeling from it, but this book didn't make me anxious. It was like listening to an old friend talk about their experience. I love Strout so much.

Lucy By The Sea is 'quintessential Lucy Barton! I felt as if I was reading Lucy's personal journal. It took me back to the early days of the pandemic and was both heartbreaking and touching, as Lucy's story often seems to be. It seemed so 'real' in capturing the emotions of the moment that I felt like I was back in that time again. I was sad when the book ended. I didn't want the story to be over, and I hope Strout keeps writing about Lucy (and Olive)!

I enjoyed Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout. Strout made it oddly comforting to be reading about the pandemic and Lucy's experience with it. All around me people want to forget and erase but this book bares witness to this event in a way that I could identify with, while also showing me the plights of some others who were worse off. It was real, but still accessible. It wasn't comprehensive -- I don't know if I could have handled that but it was authentic. I couldn't put it down.

I feel like I know Lucy Barton well, and going through Covid with Lucy allowed me to know her better. Again, Strout has written a beautiful novel about Lucy and her family. Dealing with Covid, William and her children during the time of this horrible pandemic, I understood the feelings that Lucy had. I especially understood her sense of disconnection from her children.. Zoom and FaceTime did not fulfill our need for human contact.

I also understood her relationship to her ex-husband William. During this time of strife, it was understandable, but I’m waiting for my next visit with Lucy to peer into their future.

One of my favorite things about Strout’s writing is her ability to allow her faithful fans to check-in on past characters. I appreciated hearing about Olive, and so sad about Isabelle. Since Bob Burgess was a major character in this novel, I felt comforted by the update on his life and family.

Elizabeth Strout is a very special author, whose ability to write with amazing authenticity makes each of her novels a masterpiece. I cannot wait for the next and I have to hope Strout continues to write about my “friend” Lucy.

Thank you Netgalley for this very special ARC.

I absolutely adore Elizabeth Strout.

"I have always wanted my books to help people. But in truth, I have no sense that they do. Even if someone writes to me and says, Your books have helped me—while I am always glad to get the note—I have never really been able to believe it. I mean, praise seems unable to enter me."

I've loved every Lucy Barton book with increasing depth and closeness. There are so many sentiments in this lovely story that resonated with me. I love the simple and yet layered way she writes her stories. The quietness makes it speak that much louder for me.

"Everyone needs to feel important. I thought again about how my mother—my real one—had said this to me one day. And she was absolutely right. Everyone has to feel like they matter. I did not feel that I mattered. Because in a way I have never been able to feel that. And so the days were hard."

This is the first fictional story I read that takes place solely during the pandemic. Lucy moves to Maine with her ex-husband William and the story unfolds from there. It's about the pandemic. It's about being a family, a mother, a wife, a New Yorker and so much more.

If you've liked Strout before, I am confident you will love this one.

with gratitude to netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have read a number of Elizabeth Strout's book and this one is by far my favorite. It is definitely a novel of the pandemic and I found it such a wonderful remember of all of the emotions of that time. The character of Lucy is deep and growing and I really appreciated that. I found the story within the story a great look into the life of the writer. I can't wait for the rest of the world to read this installment in the Strout world. It is excellent!

Was this my first real pandemic book? Maybe second? It will be nice to have this snapshot of this time to go back to someday. Enjoyed seeing the continued life of these charcaters.

Oh, Lucy Barton, how I do love reading your story. Following the previous installments, but especially last year's "Oh William", we have now found Lucy just at the start of the pandemic & she is being whisked from NYC to Maine to live in isolation with her friend & ex-spouse, William (a scientist). I thought I might not enjoy this one, as like so many others I am pretty burned out on the subject, but I did really enjoy reading about it through Lucy's journey with William, including so many other events of the very recent collective & traumatic past. One of my favorite things about this shorter novel were the "Easter Eggs" that author Elizabeth Strout sprinkled in to her other literary characters (IYKYK). VERY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! My sincere thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the complimentary DRC, the exchange of which did not affect my review.

Set during the first year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lucy by the Sea was like opening a lid on a time I had locked away. Lucy Barton, one of Strout’s regular heroines, is whisked away to Maine when the rumblings of the pandemic start, by her ex-husband William, who had a stronger understanding of what was going on. Lucy feels foggy and strange, unable to focus and glued to the news (remember that?). They begin to make the most of their time in Maine, enjoying it, and learning to embrace their new life, while keeping in touch with their daughters and their evolutions during the lockdown and quarantines.

This was familiar in an uncomfortable. Strout nails the feeling of the pandemic through Lucy’s angst and wandering. Less strong was the inclusion of the various world events during the pandemic. It was odd, to have so many things reflected back when we’re not that far from them, but it was also one of the better post-acute pandemic ruminations on What Happened.

Yet another quietly moving and vastly entertaining masterpiece by the always astonishing author Elizabeth Strout. Having loved My Name is Lucy Barton and Oh, William! I was prepared to be wowed again. And boy was I. This novel about two ex spouses escaping New York City during COVID and decamping to a seaside cliff in Maine is absolutely mesmerizing. I loved these characters. I want these characters to be in all novels written by everyone. Thank you Net Galley and Penguin Random House. Brava a thousand times.

Lucy Barton and her family are back in this novel, and are living through the coronavirus epidemic. Lucy is a widow, and travels with her ex husband William to Maine to isolate. Any reader can empathize with the fear, sadness and bewilderment that Lucy and those around her experience. Elizabeth Stout is a masterful writer, and these are characters we feel that we know personally.

Elizabeth Strout does it again. Picking up with our favorite gal, we follow an aging Lucy persuaded by William to move to Maine ahead of the pandemic. Bringing in characters from previous books with nods to Isabelle and the wonderful Olive Kitteridge, this book was as delightful as her previous books. Wonderfully written it’s sure to be a bestseller. Never do I hesitate to read her books. Thanks to the author, Netgalley and Random House for the ARC.

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!