My Name Is Lucy Barton

"#1 NEW YORK TIMES "BESTSELLER A new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout is cause for celebration. Her bestselling novels, including "Olive Kitteridge "and" The Burgess Boys, "have illuminated our most tender relationships. Now, in "My Name Is Lucy Barton, "this extraordinary writer shows how a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all the one between mother and daughter. Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable. Praise for "My Name Is Lucy Barton" There is not a scintilla of sentimentality in this exquisite novel. Instead, in its careful words and vibrating silences, "My Name Is Lucy Barton" offers us a rare wealth of emotion, from darkest suffering to I was so happy. Oh, I was happy simple joy. Claire Messud, "The New York Times Book Review" Spectacular . . . Smart and cagey in every way. It is both a book of withholdings and a book of great openness and wisdom. . . . [Strout] is in supreme and magnificent command of this novel at all times. Lily King, "The Washington Post" "" A short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds . . . It evokes these connections in a style so spare, so pure and so profound the book almost seems to be a kind of scripture or sutra, if a very down-to-earth and unpretentious one. Marion Winik, "Newsday" "" Potent with distilled emotion. Without a hint of self-pity, Strout captures the ache of loneliness we all feel sometimes. "Time" An aching, illuminating look at mother-daughter devotion. "People" A quiet, sublimely merciful contemporary novel about love, yearning, and resilience in a family damaged beyond words. "The Boston Globe" Sensitive, deceptively simple . . . It is Lucy s gentle honesty, complex relationship with her husband, and nuanced response to her mother s shortcomings that make this novel so subtly powerful. . . . [It s] more complex than it first appears, and all the more emotionally persuasive for it. "San Francisco Chronicle" Strout maps the complex terrain of human relationships by focusing on that which is often unspoken and only implied. . . . Apowerful addition to Strout s body of work. "The Seattle Times" Impressionistic and haunting . . . [Strout]reminds us of the power of our stories and our ability to transcend our troubled narratives. "Miami Herald" Writing of this quality comes from a commitment to listening, from a perfect attunement to the human condition, from an attention to reality so exact that it goes beyond a skill and becomes a virtue. Hilary Mantel Magnificent. Ann Patchett"

About the Author :
Elizabeth Strout is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "Olive Kitteridge, "as well as "The Burgess Boys, " a "New York Times" bestseller; "Abide with Me, "a national bestseller and Book Sense pick; and "Amy and Isabelle, " which won the "Los Angeles Times" Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the "Chicago Tribune" Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in England. Her short stories have been published in a number of magazines, including "The New Yorker and O: The Oprah Magazine." Elizabeth Strout lives in New York City. "From the Hardcover edition.""

Review :
There is not a scintilla of sentimentality in this exquisite novel. Instead, in its careful words and vibrating silences, "My Name Is Lucy Barton" offers us a rare wealth of emotion, from darkest suffering to I was so happy. Oh, I was happy simple joy. Claire Messud, "The New York Times Book Review" "" Spectacular . . . "My Name Is Lucy Barton" is smart and cagey in every way. It is both a book of withholdings and a book of great openness and wisdom. . . . [Elizabeth Strout] is in supreme and magnificent command of this novel at all times. Lily King, "The Washington Post" "" "My Name Is Lucy Barton" is a short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds. . . . It evokes these connections in a style so spare, so pure and so profound the book almost seems to be a kind of scripture or sutra, if a very down-to-earth and unpretentious one. Marion Winik, "Newsday" "" "Lucy Barton" is . . . potent with distilled emotion. Without a hint of self-pity, Strout captures the ache of loneliness we all feel sometimes. "Time" "" An aching, illuminating look at mother-daughter devotion. "People" "" A quiet, sublimely merciful contemporary novel about love, yearning, and resilience in a family damaged beyond words. "The Boston Globe" "" Sensitive, deceptively simple . . . Strout captures the pull between the ruthlessness required to write without restraint and the necessity of accepting others flaws. It is Lucy s gentle honesty, complex relationship with her husband, and nuanced response to her mother s shortcomings that make this novel so subtly powerful. . . . "My Name Is Lucy Barton" like all of Strout s fiction is more complex than it first appears, and all the more emotionally persuasive for it. "San Francisco Chronicle" "" Strout maps the complex terrain of human relationships by focusing on that which is often unspoken and only implied. . . . ["My Name Is Lucy Barton" is] a powerful addition to Strout s body of work. "The Seattle Times" "" Impressionistic and haunting . . . Much of the joy of reading "Lucy Barton "comes from piecing together the hints and half-revelations in Strout s unsentimental but compelling prose, especially as you begin to grasp the nature of a bond in which everything important is left unsaid. . . . Strout paints an indelible, grueling portrait of poverty and abuse that s all the more unnerving for her reticence. With "My Name Is Lucy Barton, "she reminds us of the power of our stories and our ability to transcend our troubled narratives. "Miami Herald" "" Lovely and heartbreaking . . . a major work in minimalist form . . . In the character of Lucy, Strout has fashioned one of the great resilient modern heroines. "Portland Press-Herald" "" Strout has proven once again that she is a master of creating unforgettable characters. . . . Her stories open themselves to the reader in a way that is familiar and relatable, but then she delivers these zingers and we marvel at her talent. "The Post and Courier" "" Writing of this quality comes from a commitment to listening, from a perfect attunement to the human condition, from an attention to reality so exact that it goes beyond a skill and becomes a virtue. Hilary Mantel Magnificent. Ann Patchett" Praise for Elizabeth Strout Strout has a magnificent gift for humanizing characters. " San Francisco Chronicle" What truly makes Strout exceptional . . . is the perfect balance she achieves between the tides of story and depths of feeling. " Chicago Tribune" [Strout] constructs her stories with rich irony and moments of genuine surprise and intense emotion. " USA Today" Strout animates the ordinary with an astonishing force. " The New Yorker" [Strout s] themes are how incompletely we know one another, how desperately hard every person in the world [is] working to get what they need, and the redemptive power in little things a shared memory, a shock of tulips. "People""