If you can-read this novella in one sitting-it is that enjoyable. Lucy Barton a NYC writer reminisces about her life before and after a lengthy hospitalization for a mysterious illness. Her hospital averse 1st husband, William, flies her mother out to spend time with her-from this point Lucy tells the story of her childhood poverty and abuse as well as the challenges of her adult life.

“We love imperfectly” and also we are loved imperfectly was one of the strongest elements for me in Lucy’s narrative. Of all her siblings Lucy goes to college, marries, has children and becomes a writer-when felled by her illness her mother visits and proceeds to recount stories of all the flawed relationships of the people in their home town. To say that her relationship with her mother is complicated is an understatement and yet her mother who has never left their small town makes the journey to NYC and although not an affectionate individual she gives the best advice to Lucy about her future-she will be OK, she will face trials, but she will be OK.

Strout covers a lot of ground examining what we leave behind when we leave, how entwined we are with the people in our life-often without realizing the depth of the ties, how we remember and how we forgive. There are some of the best lines I have read in a long time “ no use wasting time by suffering twice” when you are worried about something face it and “I think about what first husbands know”. For those new to Strout Lucy Barton is as strong a character as her beloved Pulitzer prize winning Olive Kitteridge.