"No novelist working today has [Elizabeth] Strout's extraordinary capacity for radical empathy, for seeing the essence of people beyond reductive categories, for uniting us without sentimentality. I didn't just love
Lucy by the Sea; I needed it. May droves of readers come to feel enlarged, comforted, and genuinely uplifted by Lucy's story."
--The Boston Globe
"Heartwarming as well as somber . . . Although simple on the surface, Strout's new novel manages, like her others, to encompass love and friendship, joy and anxiety, grief and grievances, loneliness and shame--and a troubling sense of growing unrest and division in America. . . . Strout's understanding of the human condition is capacious."
--NPR "Rendered in Strout's graceful, deceptively light prose . . . Lucy's done the hard work of transformation. May we do the same."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Like all of Strout's novels,
Lucy by the Sea has an anecdotal surface that belies a firm underlying structure. It is meant to feel like life--random, surprising, occasionally lit with flashes of larger meaning--but it is art."
--The New Yorker
"The novel inhabits an emotionally rich terrain, where past failures shine light on future possibilities, where strength comes from vulnerability and where chance challenges choices. . . . Strout is a natural and generous writer, letting feeling and intuition lead her craft."
--Associated Press "Deeply moving and quietly funny."
--The New York Times (100 Notable Books of 2022)
"Strout fans will delight in the appearance of beloved characters from previous novels, including Olive Kitteridge and Isabelle . . . as they struggle and hope--together but in isolation."
--The Washington Post (50 Notable Works of Fiction) "Through her empathetic hand, Strout reveals what was lost in this turbulent time, but also--via her discoveries about marriage, family, and love--what Lucy gained."
--Time
"Poised and moving . . . It is only in the steady hands of Strout, whose prose has an uncanny, plainspoken elegance, that you will want to relive those early months of wiping down groceries and social isolation. . . . This is a slim, beautifully controlled book that bursts with emotion."
--Vogue "The Pulitzer Prize-winning Portland author reprises her Lucy Barton character to convert the grimmest period in our recent past into something triumphant and hopeful."
--Portland Press Herald "A quietly profound book about grief and loss--oh, so much loss!--but also kindness, generosity and resilience."
--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Strout excels at distilling complex human emotions--fear of failure, regret that we never measured up-- into something familiar and understandable."
--BookTrib
"Strout follows up
Oh William! with a captivating entry in the Lucy Barton series. . . . What emerges is a prime testament to the characters' resilience. With Lucy Barton, Strout continues to draw from a deep well."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
