Lucy By the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

These are just too easy to read! My account is quickly becoming a Lucy Barton series appreciation page and I won’t apologise 😬

This book is the “lockdown” novel of the series, with Lucy ensconced in a little Maine town with her ex-husband William. Her friendship with local man Bob Burgess and other characters also feature, and you get a good lead-up to the escape from the city, as well as the claustrophobic and contradictory nature of lockdown with an ex-husband.

I love the surreal nature of the pandemic as portrayed here, the way in which Lucy almost sleep walks into the situation is very relatable.

This book is a good exploration of the collective trauma and I love Lucy’s complex feelings about her daughters and their lives during this time. I think it’s a very honest portrayal of mother-daughter relationships in mid-adulthood.

Lucy is not a perfect heroine, in fact sometimes she can almost be a caricature of herself, but the intimacy the reader builds with her over this book series is paramount.

I liked the themes of displacement, privilege, and the exploration of political and social rifts in America, even though it’s all done in a very light touch manner. But there’s a buzzing in the air that’s detectable.

One word: bittersweet.