Elizabeth Strout

The world of Olive Kitteridge, a retired school teacher in a small coastal town in Maine, is revealed in stories that explore her diverse roles in many lives, including a lounge singer haunted by a past love, her stoic husband, and her own resentful son.

Olive Kitteridge

A New York Times-bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, who struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine.

Olive, Again

#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. . . . A powerful 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

A Novel

My Name is Lucy Barton

"Strout's iconic heroine Lucy Barton recounts her complex, tender relationship with William, her first husband -- and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante."--

Oh William!

"Anything Is Possible explores the whole range of human emotion through the intimate dramas of people struggling to understand themselves and others. Here are two sisters: One trades self-respect for a wealthy husband while the other finds in the pages of a book a kindred spirit who changes her life. The janitor at the local school has his faith tested in an encounter with an isolated man he has come to help; a grown daughter longs for mother love even as she comes to accept her mother's happiness in a foreign country; and the adult Lucy Barton (the heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton, the author's celebrated New York Times bestseller) returns to visit her siblings after seventeen years of absence. Reverberating with the deep bonds of family, and the hope that comes with reconciliation, Anything Is Possible again underscores Elizabeth Strout's place as one of America's most respected and cherished authors"--Amazon.com.

Anything is possible

Lucy by the Sea

Meg Wolitzer

Jonathan Lethem

Dave Eggers

William Finnegan

Neil Gaiman

Anthony Doerr

Salman Rushdie

Lauren Groff

Marlon James

Andrew Sean Greer

Ann Patchett

Brit Bennett

Yaa Gyasi

Sergio De La Pava

Aleksandar Hemon

George Saunders

Rabih Alameddine

Jesmyn Ward

Michael Cunningham

Jennifer Egan

Louise Erdrich

Morgan Parker

Jacqueline Woodson

Steven Okazaki

Geraldine Brooks

Viet Thanh Nguyen

Scott Turow

Timothy Egan

Victor Lavalle

Moses Sumney

Moriel Rothman-Zecher

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

Hector Tobar

Li Yiyun

C.J. Anders

Brenda J. Childs

David Handler

To mark its 100-year anniversary, the American Civil Liberties Union partners with award-winning authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman to bring together many of our greatest living writers, each contributing an original piece inspired by a historic ACLU case. On January 19, 1920, a small group of idealists and visionaries, including Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Roger Baldwin, and Crystal Eastman, founded the American Civil Liberties Union. A century after its creation, the ACLU remains the nation’s premier defender of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. In collaboration with the ACLU, authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have curated an anthology of essays about landmark cases in the organization’s one-hundred-year history. Fight of the Century takes you inside the trials and the stories that have shaped modern life. Some of the most prominent cases that the ACLU has been involved in—Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona—need little introduction. Others you may never even have heard of, yet their outcomes quietly defined the world we live in now. Familiar or little-known, each case springs to vivid life in the hands of the acclaimed writers who dive into the history, narrate their personal experiences, and debate the questions at the heart of each issue. Hector Tobar introduces us to Ernesto Miranda, the felon whose wrongful conviction inspired the now-iconic Miranda rights—which the police would later read to the man suspected of killing him. Yaa Gyasi confronts the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the ACLU submitted a friend of- the-court brief questioning why a nation that has sent men to the moon still has public schools so unequal that they may as well be on different planets. True to the ACLU’s spirit of principled dissent, Scott Turow offers a blistering critique of the ACLU’s stance on campaign finance. These powerful stories, along with essays from Neil Gaiman, Meg Wolitzer, Salman Rushdie, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Louise Erdrich, George Saunders, and many more, remind us that the issues the ACLU has engaged over the past one hundred years remain as vital as ever today, and that we can never take our liberties for granted. Chabon and Waldman are donating their advance to the ACLU and the contributors are forgoing payment.

Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases

Fight of the Century

When Amy Goodrow, a shy high school student, falls in love with her math teacher, the love affair threatens the intimate relationship between Amy and her mother, Isabelle, whose feelings are influenced by the shame of her own past. A first novel. 100,000 first printing. Reprint.

Amy and Isabelle

Catalyzed by a nephew's thoughtless prank, a pair of brothers confront painful psychological issues surrounding the freak accident that killed their father when they were boys, a loss linked to a heartbreaking deception that shaped their personal and professional lives. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge.

The Burgess Boys

After the tragic death of his young wife, Reverend Tyler Caskey, a New England minister, struggles to hold together his own life, his family, and his town, while dealing with his personal anger, grief, and loss of faith.

Abide with Me

Olive est l'épouse du pharmacien de Crosby, une petite ville côtière du Maine. Elle a un fils, Christopher, qu'elle étouffe. Et c'est aussi un professeur de mathématiques brutal et tyrannique, capable, pourtant, d'élans de bonté. Personnalité hors normes, a priori peu aimable, mais ô combien attachante, Olive traverse cette fresque polyphonique où les destins des habitants de Crosby - héros ordinaires - s'entremêlent sur une période de trente ans. Salué outre-Atlantique pour la virtuosité de sa construction et la finesse de son ton, Olive Kitteridge s'inscrit dans la lignée de romans comme Le cœur est un chasseur solitaire, de Carson McCullers, ou Les Corrections, de Jonathan Franzen. Ce livre a reçu le prix Pulitzer.

From the Pulitzer prize-winning author of MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON - available for pre-order now 'It is a gift in this life that we do not know what awaits us' 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. 'A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own' Hilary Mantel 'A terrific writer' Zadie Smith 'She gets better with each book' Maggie O'Farrell

From the Booker-longlisted author of Oh William!

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.

a novel

My name is Lucy Barton

Vencedora do Prémio Pulitzer, Elizabeth Strout é uma das escritoras americanas mais aclamadas da actualidade. Em O meu nome é Lucy Barton emprega a sua invulgar capacidade de observação das relações humanas para lançar luz sobre a mais basilar e complexa de todas elas - a relação entre mães e filhas. Lucy Barton está numa cama de hospital, a recuperar lentamente de uma cirurgia que deveria ter sido simples. As visitas do marido e das filhas são escassas e pouco aproveitadas por Lucy. A branca monotonia dos dias de hospital é quebrada pela inesperada visita da mãe, que fica cinco dias sentada à sua cabeceira. Mãe e filha já não se falavam há anos, tantos quantos os que Lucy passou sem visitar a casa onde cresceu e os que a mãe passou sem a visitar em Nova Iorque, nem sequer para conhecer as netas. Reunidas, as duas trocam novidades e cochichos sobre os vizinhos da infância de Lucy, mas, por baixo da superfície plácida da conversa de circunstância, pulsam a tensão e a carência que enformaram todos os aspectos da vida de Lucy: a infância de pobreza e privação no Illinois, a fuga para Nova Iorque (a única dos três filhos que o fez) e a desintegração silenciosa do casamento, apesar da presença luminosa das filhas. Com um passado que ainda a atormenta e o presente em risco iminente de implosão, Lucy Barton tem de focar para ver mais longe e para voltar a pôr-se de pé. Mais ainda do que uma história de mãe e filha, este é um romance sobre as distâncias por vezes insuperáveis entre pessoas que deveriam estar muito próximas, sobre o peso dos não-ditos no seio das relações mais íntimas e sobre a solidão que todos sentimos alguma vez na vida. A entrelaçar esta poderosa narrativa está a voz da própria Lucy: tão observadora, sábia e profundamente humana como a da escritora que lhe dá forma. Os elogios da crítica: «O meu nome é Lucy Barton confirma Elizabeth Strout como uma narradora muito talentosa, imersa nas nuances das relações humanas, tecendo tapeçarias familiares com compaixão, sabedoria e inteligência.» The Guardian «Espectacular... O meu nome é Lucy Barton é um romance inteligente e contido em todas as acepções. É um livro cheio de reservas mas também de grande abertura e sabedoria.» The Washington Post «O meu nome é Lucy Barton é um romance sobre o amor, em particular sobre o amor complicado entre mães e filhas, mas também sobre aquelas ligações mais simples e repentinas... A evocação destes afectos é tão reservada, tão pura e tão profunda que a narrativa se assemelha a uma escritura ou a uma sutra, embora despretensiosa e sensata.» Newsday «Sem o menor laivo de autocomiseração, Strout captura a dor da solidão que todos por vezes sentimos.» Time «Um olhar pungente e luminoso sobre a devoção entre mães e filhas.» People «Uma escrita assim nasce de um compromisso para escutar, de uma sintonia perfeita com a condição humana, de um cuidado tão extremo para com a realidade que deixa de ser uma competência para se tornar uma virtude.» Hilary Mantel «Uma grande acuidade moral está subjacente à natureza gentil deste livro minuciosamente sensível, que prefere a complexidade à condenação. Não encontrará vilões adulterados aqui, apenas seres humanos muito falíveis, com uma possibilidade de redenção - e até talvez de felicidade.» Boston Globe

O meu nome é Lucy Barton

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout explores the mysteries of marriage and the secrets we keep, as a former couple reckons with where they’ve come from—and what they’ve left behind. ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Time, Vulture, She Reads “Elizabeth Strout is one of my very favorite writers, so the fact that Oh William! may well be my favorite of her books is a mathematical equation for joy. The depth, complexity, and love contained in these pages is a miraculous achievement.”—Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House I would like to say a few things about my first husband, William. Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read. William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me. Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years. They just are. So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when William asks her to join him on a trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret—one of those secrets that rearrange everything we think we know about the people closest to us. What happens next is nothing less than another example of what Hilary Mantel has called Elizabeth Strout’s “perfect attunement to the human condition.” There are fears and insecurities, simple joys and acts of tenderness, and revelations about affairs and other spouses, parents and their children. On every page of this exquisite novel we learn more about the quiet forces that hold us together—even after we’ve grown apart. At the heart of this story is the indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who offers a profound, lasting reflection on the very nature of existence. “This is the way of life,” Lucy says: “the many things we do not know until it is too late.”

Anything Is Possible

In Crosby, einer kleiner Stadt an der Küste von Maine, ist nicht mehr viel los. Doch sieht man genauer hin, ist jeder Mensch eine Geschichte und Crosby die ganze Welt. (Buchdeckel verso).

Roman

Mit Blick aufs Meer

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout comes a poignant, pitch-perfect novel about a divorced couple stuck together during lockdown—and the love, loss, despair, and hope that animate us even as the world seems to be falling apart. “Strout’s understanding of the human condition is capacious.”—NPR ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, Oprah Daily, Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Time, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, PopSugar, She Reads With her trademark spare, crystalline prose—a voice infused with “intimate, fragile, desperate humanness” (The Washington Post)—Elizabeth Strout turns her exquisitely tuned eye to the inner workings of the human heart, following the indomitable heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton through the early days of the pandemic. As a panicked world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and on-again, off-again friend, William. For the next several months, it’s just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea. Rich with empathy and emotion, Lucy by the Sea vividly captures the fear and struggles that come with isolation, as well as the hope, peace, and possibilities that those long, quiet days can inspire. At the heart of this story are the deep human connections that unite us even when we’re apart—the pain of a beloved daughter’s suffering, the emptiness that comes from the death of a loved one, the promise of a new friendship, and the comfort of an old, enduring love. Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize

Elizabeth Strout

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