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Lucy by the Sea

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Lucy by the Sea

By: Elizabeth Strout
Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the Pulitzer prize-winning author of MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON

In March 2020 Lucy's ex-husband William pleads with her to leave New York and escape to a coastal house he has rented in Maine. Lucy reluctantly agrees, leaving the washing-up in the sink, expecting to be back in a week or two. Weeks turn into months, and it's just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the sea.

Rich with empathy and a searing clarity, Lucy by the Sea evokes the fragility and uncertainty of the recent past, as well as the possibilities that those long, quiet days can inspire. At the heart of this miraculous novel are the deep human connections that sustain us, even as the world seems to be falling apart.

© Elizabeth Strout 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

 City Life Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural Urban Women's Fiction

Critic Reviews

Stunningly universal . . . with brilliant acuity, Strout has seized on the parallels between Lucy Barton's pervasive sense of alienation and the way the recent global crisis has exposed the helplessness felt by ordinary people everywhere
[Strout's] novels, intricately and painstakingly crafted, overlap and intertwine to create an instantly recognizable fictional landscape . . . you don't so much read a Strout novel as inhabit it
A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own (Hilary Mantel)
I cannot get Lucy Barton out of my head
Strout's portrait of a divorced couple united by worry for their two grown daughters illuminates a refreshingly unexplored angle of Covid . . . They leap off the page along with their creator's salty wit and a phantom scent of hand sanitizer
Elizabeth Strout is one of my very favourite writers (Ann Patchett)
It's no secret that Elizabeth Strout is a stunning writer, but I still find myself amazed at the depth she brings to the world of her stories centered on Lucy Barton (Taylor Jenkins Reid)
Lucy by the Sea holds a mirror up to everything we have been through recently. Not only reflecting disbelief, isolation and how different and at the same time similar we are to each other, but also what happens to human relationships when we can't be together. Superb (Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground)
An unflinching depiction of the ways we are all alone . . . Strout's most distinctive skill - the ability to render every character, big or small, with precision - is on full display . . . Lucy finds love in the novel, but Strout never looks away from the loneliness that is inherent in being human: "We all live with people - and places - and things that we have given great weight to. But we are all weightless in the end." (Sarah Collins)
[Strout] has that rare ability to immerse readers in the world of her characters . . . moments of quiet revelation - infidelities, or glimpses into the indignities of incontinence and cancer - feel poignant and real, but also unsentimental. It is a compassionate, life-affirming read, and a much-needed balm for these trying times
All stars
Most relevant
A down to earth wise and compassionate book, Lucy by the Sea is a manual for what matters when the world as we have known it is crumbling. I loved it and also Kimberly Farr’s seemingly loving reading.

Please keep writing Elizabeth

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I really liked the narrator. Her voice and age matched the book perfectly. Sounded like a well educated mature American woman. Will look for her again.

Terrific

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loved every minute of the story. it was a fascinating look back on our life during COVID

The fantastic detail and the use of thoughts spoken aloud.

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Love these series of Lucy and family.
So simple so non intimidating. Just matter of fact heart warming story of love and surviving the 21st century.

Heart felt literature

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All of Ms Strout’s Lucy books are wonderful but this may be the best yet. Thought provoking and timely I hoped I would never end.

Another amazing ‘Lucy’ book

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.