Once again Elizabeth Strout writes a wonderful book filled with human life and fraility. I particularly enjoyed how she brought together all the characters we have grown to love, including Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton finally meeting and sharing stories of ordinary people they knew. My heart went out to Bob Burgess with his unrequited love and his kindness to others. So beautifully written that if I didn't have a dozen other books needing to be read I would have re read Tell Me Everything all over again as soon as I finished it. Even though it helps to have read the other books featuring the characters here, I highly recommend this book in its own right. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK/Viking for the opportunity to read and review Tell Me Everything.

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for providing me an eARC to review!

This felt like a good end point to Olive and Lucy's stories, tying the series up in a bow of 'all lives and stories matter, even the seemingly ordinary ones'. I have really enjoyed the way these books feel authentic and really capture regular people through their ups and downs. All the characters are complex but the book doesn't feel the need to spoon feed you everything about them, which makes for some thought-provoking insights into the human condition.

The murder mystery plot did feel a little out of left field, as while it did fit with the theme I don't think it entirely fit tonally. It almost felt like it should be a separate book on its own, or a novella to read before this one. But I can also see how Lucy and Olive needed something else to carry the story along.

I do think you need to read all of Strout's previous books before this one, though. I hadn't read Amy and Isabelle or The Burgess Boys, only the Olive and Lucy books, and I feel like this spoilt a lot of the plotpoints in those. I'm interested to see how that affects my enjoyment of those books.

I think while my enjoyment of the series has wavered, overall it is very solid and I can see why it gets a lot of love. The way Strout is able to make her characters feels so real - I suspect also through a pinch of autofiction - is really unique and quite and achievement.

For Strout fans this is probably the most anticipated of her books - the one where Lucy meets Olive. For anyone who is new to Elizabeth Strout, Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge are both title characters from some of Strout’s previous novels. Lucy is a writer who has moved to Maine with her ex-husband, following the pandemic. Olive, a long time resident of Crosby, is now in her nineties and lives in the local residential home.

The two women meet to share stories of ‘unrecorded lives’; the extraordinary stories of ordinary people. Their meetings and the stories they tell are pure Strout, stories of small lives but with big heart. Both women remain true to character and it was fascinating seeing them through the other’s eyes. I adored the relationship they forged.

Whilst Olive and Lucy are the main draw, for me it is Bob Burgess who steals the show - oh Bob! Readers of previous novels will be familiar with Bob, the local lawyer who carries with him a sorrowful air. He is an unlikely hero but we really get to see him here; a man who selflessly saves the day on more than one occasion. I have never wanted a character to be happy and content more than Bob.

I was already a big fan of Elizabeth Strout’s writing going into this one. I loved being back with the residents of Crosby and Shirley Falls, sharing their woes and their hopes. I was so enamoured with it that I stretched it out, I didn’t want to finish it.

If you’re already a fan then this will be on your radar, let me assure you, it’s wonderful, possibly her best yet. If you are yet to discover Elizabeth Strout I urge you to pick up one of her books. Her stories are quiet and unassuming with characters you will feel deeply for.

This is a nice book, mainly about Bob Burgess and his secret love for Lucy Barton. The usual characters are mentioned, but the main theme of the book is Bob.
With his walks and conversations with Lucy, he is tasked with representing Matt Beach who has been accused of murdering his mother. The mother was known locally as Bitch Ball because she had a tendency to abuse people. While all of this is happening, his relationship with his older brother, Jim, seems to be declining and he has to find out what is happening there.
An interesting book about relationships and families.

This is classic Strout, a conversational journey into the small New England communities in which her recurring characters reside, with well-known faces like Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton all present. Those two meet to tell each other stories about “people and the lives they lead” and I think that’s exactly what Strout is up to too.

When two queens come together to maximise their joint slay and also Bob is there too (I love Bob so much)!

I love the Stroutiverse and was so thrilled to realise the next Amgash book would have a Lucy/Olive crossover. Admittedly I haven’t read the Burgess boys but I think this book gives enough context to really get who Bob is.

Bob Burgess is requested by an old classmate to represent her brother who is accused of killing their mother. While this is going on Lucy Barton is visiting Olive Strout and the two are discussing ‘unrecorded lives’. Basically telling each other stories of people they knew.

I think this was my favourite Elizabeth Strout book to date? It’s just the best of everyone. Most of the books I read do not have a lot of heart but this is full of it. Which makes a nice change! And I can’t recommend it enough.

The deceptively homely style is comfortable and comforting as one story shared leads to another to be told, lulling the reader with their gentleness. But simmering under the surface are uncomfortable and far-from-comforting events in a small town, which lead to murder. Olive Kittridge is deliciously cranky, has stories to tell and eager to hear Lucy Barton’s stories. Olive’s ability to read behind the smokescreens is enviable. I want to be her when I grow up. Self discovery is key throughout these tales, as marriages are reignited, truths about childhood events, some misremembered, emerge and friends and neighbours are uplifted to ‘special’.

I think Tell Me Everything is my favourite Elizabeth Strout so far. We are back in the same small town by the sea where Lucy and Will live. However, we also have Olive Kitteridge - and she and Lucy are swapping stories, otherwise known as unrecorded lives.
Lucy is still taking her walks with Bob Burgess but their relationship is changing and neither of them know how or whether to act on it.
Adding to this Bob has been asked to help a man whose mother has been found dead in suspicious circumstances.
Surrounding this we have other characters with their issues and concerns, all beautifully brought to life by Elizabeth Strout’s gorgeous writing. No one else writes about small town life as she does, and she brings the struggles of just getting by vividly to life. Her characters may not be wildly exciting but we feel their hopes and fears and that they just want to love and be loved.
What seems to be a disparate cast of characters all interlink and finally come together at the end, while Olive and Lucy’s stories act as clever interludes or commentaries.
It’s a beautiful, very elegant and at times quite humorous book, even if you haven’t read any Elizabeth Strout before I urge you to read this one.

Hands-up if you love Bob! Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout follows straight on from Lucy by the Sea where Lucy and Bob met and formed a close friendship.

Olive Kitteridge notices how Bob and Lucy are with each other and believes they are in love. The tension of will Bob and Lucy go beyond friendship runs throughout the novel and I liked the way that Strout quietly deals with the course of their relationship.

As Lucy tells Olive ‘love is love’ and Strout covers a range of loves and how our intensity of feelings can ebb and flow in different circumstances.

There’s a melancholy air, and perhaps this is because this is a Bob book and I always feel that he has a kind sadness about him. He has to be in my top five male characters. I did warm to Lucy a bit more in this book, but she’s a bit too wispy for me . It was wonderful to see more of Bob’s siblings, especially Susan. Don’t worry if you’ve not read the other stories as Strout always recovers any key points from the earlier novels.

I do love these books and the whole universe of characters that Strout has created for us. These are my hugs in a book novels, and okay this one is only out this week but when’s the next one???

Tell Me Everything is like Elizabeth Strout's version of Marvel's Avengers - popular characters from the Stroutverse such as Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge meet at long last. But if there is a single protagonist in this story it's Bob Burgess - the kind, melancholic gentleman that heartache seems to follow around.

Bob is settled in the fictional town of Crosby, Maine these days. He's married to Margaret, a church minister, and satisfied with his life but maybe not content. Lucy Barton is back together with her first husband William. And she's made a new pal of sorts in that lovable curmudgeon Olive Kitteridge, visiting her at the local retirement community so that Olive can tell stories she needs to get off her chest. Bob and Lucy have grown close, meeting up for long walks and deep conversations, and Bob realises he's beginning to have stronger feelings for his friend. But he's also preoccupied with a case he has taken on. Gloria Beach, a local pensioner, has died in dubious circumstances and her loner son Matthew is the prime suspect. Bob takes pity on the man and decides to defend him.

This murder investigation gives a sense of momentum and structure to a meandering story. Otherwise it's a case of Strout doing what she does best: examining the lives of ordinary people with trademark grace and insight. I was particularly taken with Bob's plight, falling hard for a friend and not knowing what to do about it. I've been in that situation myself and Strout really captures the exquisite torture of being in love with somebody you can't have: "When he woke the world seemed magical to him, and he felt that he was experiencing some Large Awareness. But then he would crave Lucy, just to see her, just to be with her, and to really crave anything one might not ever get in this world is a difficult thing." He enjoys spending time with her more than anything else, because they absolutely connect, and truly listen to one another, but the feeling is bittersweet because he knows their relationship will likely go no further: "His weekly walks with her recently had left him simultaneously exhilarated and despondent." Bob finds himself wondering if their friendship is healthy for him and experiences guilt at neglecting Margaret.

Tell Me Everything is full of the usual smalltown drama that Strout excels at depicting. She cares so much for her characters and imbues them with such depth and warmth - you can't help but feel that you have come to know them intimately. For Strout fans, it is a thrill to see two beloved individuals like Olive and Lucy converse for the first time. However, I wonder if she might now move on from this cast, and tackle something/somewhere completely different? It would be fascinating to see her apply her considerable talents to a subject that is new and entirely unfamiliar. Nevertheless, if there is more to come for Olive and co, I'll be first in line to read it.

Tell Me Everything
By Elizabeth Strout

I can't express enough how much I love Elizabeth Strout's writing. She touches my heart in a way no other writer can with her gentle, quiet stories of people who bump against each other in mundane, yet profound ways. Olive was my first love, she crushed my soul. Then Isabelle and Amy sent me in search of anything and everything this author already wrote, and since then I have read everything.

My journey with Lucy Barton has been a slow burner, but by Amgash #3 and #4 I was smitten. The Burgess Boys didn't floor me with a much impact, but I was pleasantly surprised to encounter so much of Bob in this new novel.

All that said, Tell Me Everything didn't quite live up to my sky high expectations. It's a lovely read, and so full of Easter eggs, but it didn't come with the emotional response I hoped for. I'm not talking disappointment here, just not 5 stars by comparison to previous works.

Will I continue to read future Strouts? Absolutely. If this was my one and only of hers, it would likely be 5 stars.

Publication date: 19th September 2024
Thanks to #NetGalley and #PenguinGeneral for the ARC

Series are a hard thing to bring off in literary fiction. So it’s remarkable that over the last twenty five years Elizabeth Strout has now woven ten novels into one continuous fictional universe. Her smalltown New England, centred around the town of Shirley Falls, Maine has evolved through three central characters: cantankerous maths teacher Olive Kitteridge; good-hearted lawyer Bob Burgess and his brother Jim; and novelist Lucy Barton. Each of these has been introduced via their own set of novels, and after two decades Strout, Infinity War style, brings them all together in this new addition to the Stroutiverse.

Ostensibly this has far more of a plot than any previous book. Bob, who carries it, takes the case of a Shirley Falls loner whose mothers body has been discovered in suspicious circumstances. In a parallel plot Bob is befriended by Lucy and during their long walks together he finds himself falling in love with her, and out of love with his pastor wife Margaret.

Rest assured Strout fans this is neither a thriller (though armed police do turn up at one point) nor a romance. Rather these serve as scaffolds for the story to bring together the characters. Lucy, who has settled in Maine with ex-husband William; Olive, now a resident in a care home for the elderly; and Bob who has to grapple once more with his feelings about his uber-successful brother Jim. This is a return to many of the key themes Strout has explored. Childhood trauma and how it stays with us as adults (both Lucy and Bob continue to try to come to terms with exceptionally difficult backgrounds); the power of stories to connect us (Olive and Lucy and Bob and Lucy spend hours telling each other stories from their lives); and above all how ageing can drive us into isolation from even our closest friends and family.

Her perfectly turned sentences and unerring pitch for the rhythms of conversation are all present and correct. Always meditative, Tell Me Everything sees Barton turn the screw one notch more on her characters as illness and old age make them contemplate the end. What do we best do with the time we have left? Are we going to hold grudges and slights or reach out to those around us?

The stroutiverse has its limits. Those in material poverty are the subjects of stories rather than protagonists. Her cast of characters exhibit a high degree of articulacy and sensitivity. But it’s a pleasure to spend a few hours with them and their honest attempts to wrestle with their relationships past and present. This feels like a conclusion and it will be fascinating to see where she goes next.

4.5 stars. Elizabeth Strout’s writing is like the adult equivalent of fairy stories for children - there is such a comfort within the words, and some subtle life lessons to be picked up along the way. Tell me Everything is no exception.

I love the Amgash world that she has created, all the interwoven stories and characters lives intersecting. Crosby is as much a character as any person is, I feel that I could go there, it seems so real from the writing.

This book is about unrecorded lives and the sharing of them, I think that is what all of the books are about really; the quiet but astonishing-in-their-own-way lives that are being lived every day with no witness. There is also a mystery element in that a murder has taken place and the perpetrator is not known at the beginning. The breadcrumbs leading the reader to the conclusion are perfectly spaced and fully engrossing.

It was lovely to get to know more about Bob Burgess and what a thoroughly kind-hearted man I always suspected he was. Elizabeth doesn’t shy away from showing us his flaws but this just makes him more genuine.

The scenes with Olive and Lucy exchanging stories were amazing. These two women, both powerhouses in their own right, sharing their observations and memories, sometimes prickling each other but always drawn back to their meetings as they are both keen consumers of knowledge of the human condition.

On the face of it, this book is about the ordinary (murder aside!) but it just sparkles with the true element of what make live worth living.

Tell Me Everything, Strout can do no wrong and nobody currently writing can come close to her brand of wonder, warmth and wisdom. This book exceeded all my expectations, every single sentence was a joy to read. I could list superlatives all day long about Elizabeth Strout but I will restrain myself. My overriding feeling when savouring this novel was how much of a gift it is to Strout's readers and how much she loves and cares for her characters. I have no notes, this book is perfect. Vibrating with ordinary everyday wonder , beauty and love. I am so glad Olive and Lucy got to meet.
All the stars, already looking forward to returning to this book and cant wait to get a copy on publication day.
Nobody does it better.

I still really liked this, but it‘s not my favourite ‘Lucy Barton‘ book, but my expectations were sky-high. As well as Lucy, Bob Burgess is highly featured, as is Olive Kitteridge.

Early on, there were too many disparate threads and inconsequential stories about characters we‘d never met before. The book soon picked up though, as Bob becomes involved in a murder investigation - I wished this had been the whole focus of the book.

A brilliant, wonderful book.

If you’re a Strout fan all you need to know is that, in this book, Lucy Barton meets Olive Kitteridge, and it’s all you could hope for.

If you’ve not read her work - several previous novels/short stories feature Lucy and Olive - then this book is as good a place as any to start. Strout’s work is about people (often older ones) and stories, not so much about plot - so you don’t have to start at the beginning. She supplies what you need to know, and makes you curious to go back and learn more.

This is the story of Bob Burgess, his family, and friends.

Bob’s a good man, who doesn’t have this awareness of himself. A semi-retired attorney, keeping busy helping people in the small Maine town of Crosby, he takes regular walks with his best friend, recently arrived novelist Lucy Barton. They share a unique, intimate friendship, each sparking joy and comfort in the other, which they acknowledge in their hearts, but rarely discuss.

Lucy visits the elderly Olive Kitteridge, introduced by a mutual friend who knows of their shared love of stories. They take turns to tell stories they have heard, or from their own experience, of “unrecorded lives”, remarkable tales of ordinary people. These stories often come to reflect and comment, sometimes quite obliquely, on the events surrounding them.

Stories of unrecorded lives could be a description of Strout’s books, and Lucy’s and Olive’s exchanges reminded me of her short stories.

This is a beautiful book, told with Strout’s gift for powerful and vivid economy - not always a lot of words, but just the right ones. It reflects on the way in which our friendships, marriages, and relationships with our parents and children change as we get older, and it asks, how well can we know anyone else?

There is great warmth here, and such insightful humanity in Strout’s understanding of the small things that can kindle love (and loathing), and an awareness of the seams of tragedy which darken so many families, but which need to be borne for survival’s sake.

I absolutely loved it.

Once again, Elizabeth Strout's writing is beautiful and transported me to the heart of this small town. On the surface it is a simple story but in describing the thoughts and feelings and interactions encountered in everyday life it explores the complexity of each character in great depth and it does this so well it left me feeling I know them better than they know themselves, especially Bob. There is so much within this novel that is relateable and wise. It's a wonderful addition to Strout's novels.

I haven't read any of the author's previous books, although they have been on my radar with good intentions for some time. Because of this, I probably didn't get the full benefit from this title but still enjoyed the story and the setting. It has given me the resolve to go back and read more and find out the background of this town and its inhabitants.

Tell Me Everything is vintage, quintessential Elizabeth Strout, notable for the fact that it unites three of her best beloved characters - Olive Kitteridge, Lucy Barton, and Bob Burgess. In some ways, the book sounds really action-packed and plot heavy - there is a murder, a suicide, a death, a surprise wedding, and a near affair - but it really isn't. Saying it's a book where two older women are introduced and frequently get together to share stories and where two friends meet regularly to walk and talk is also true and arguably more accurate. For this is actually a quiet book where plot is almost beside the point. Rather, it is the background against which the characters learn more about themselves and each other, while also realising that people, themselves included, are fairly unknowable. There is a strong focus on the purpose of stories and of life itself, an emphasis on being human and the ties, especially love in all its forms, which bind us to each other. One of the highlights for me was seeing Bob Burgess go out of his way to help another character, someone he could have treated solely as a client, and witnessing the huge positive impact his actions had. As always, Strout treats her characters gently, with real tenderness and compassion. Readers who love her previous books won't be disappointed; those who aren't fans won't be converted. While this could be read as a standalone, my personal opinion is that Strout newbies would miss a lot by starting here. With that caveat, this is a book I'd recommend to anyone looking for a quiet, character driven novel that's warm and undeniably human.

Many thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for this eArc. Tell Me Everything releases this week in the US and next week in the UK.

If you haven't read any of the author's books before, this is not the place to start.

I'd met everyone in this book before. In this book some of the previous characters link up, as in Lucy Barton beginning to visit Olive Kitteridge in her retirement home to share stories. Following on from the previous book (Lucy by the Sea) which was set in the pandemic Lucy is still with her ex husband and now forming a stronger friendship with Bob Burgess through their walks. Some of the backstory is repeated but really to get the most out of this book you need to have read the previous ones.

How I have enjoyed meeting all the characters from Elizabeth's previous books again. It was like reminiscing with old friends and hearing new stories too. I think you need to be a fan of this style of slow paced character led writing to fully appreciate this book. Not too much actually happens in terms of a plot, apart from a potential murder. It is however packed with Elizabeth's signature on point descriptive prose about people, their actions and inner thoughts. I can understand how she observes to create character traits but how she fabricates characters inner thoughts so well, I do not know.

I still love the Olive Kitteridge character the most. In this book she is now in her 90s but still going strong. With her opinions very much still freely voiced. My one takeaway from this book will be "Just life... that's all it is life".