Lucy by the Sea: A Novel Audiobook

Quotes

• 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

• “With perfectly modulated tones, Farr depicts Strout’s awkward, frail, and flawed characters…Listeners will be pleased to revisit her world through Farr’s exquisite narration. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

  — AudioFile

• “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.”

  — 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

• 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)