Book Review: Lucy by the Sea

Lucy by the Sea
by Elizabeth Strout
Review by Bel

Lucy Barton is one of my favourite characters of all time. From the first page she chats to you like an old friend – describing the death of her husband, her adult daughters, love and ageing, her childhood poverty, her writing life and, in this fourth book in the Lucy Barton series (you don’t need to have read the others), the arrival of Covid in New York, where she lives. The intimacy and nuances of her observations of people and the times are just exquisite – profound, funny, humble and wise. I will re-read Elizabeth Strout to the end of my days.