{"product_id":"lucy-by-the-sea-9780241607008","title":"Lucy by the Sea","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own''\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eHilary Mantel\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFROM THE BOOKER-SHORTLISTED, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e''It is a gift in this life that we do not know what awaits us''\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn March 2020 Lucy Barton''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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRich with empathy and a searing clarity, \u003ci\u003eLucy by the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''\u003cb\u003eA terrific writer''\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eZadie Smith\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''I cannot get Lucy Barton out of my head'' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''She gets better with each book'' Maggie O''Farrell\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller, October 2022\u003cbr\u003eShortlisted for the Booker Prize, 2022\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Pulitzer Prize, 2009\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eElizabeth Strout''s new novel \u003ci\u003eTell Me Everything \u003c\/i\u003eis available for pre-order now!\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStunningly 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\u003c\/b\u003e * Daily Telegraph, 5 stars *\u003cbr\u003e[Strout's] novels, intricately and painstakingly crafted, overlap and intertwine to create an instantly recognizable fictional landscape . . . \u003cb\u003eyou don't so much read a Strout novel as inhabit it\u003c\/b\u003e * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own\u003c\/b\u003e -- Hilary Mantel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI cannot get Lucy Barton out of my head\u003c\/b\u003e * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStrout'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\u003c\/b\u003e * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eElizabeth Strout is one of my very favourite writers\u003c\/b\u003e -- Ann Patchett\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt'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\u003c\/b\u003e -- Taylor Jenkins Reid * The Week *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLucy by the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e holds a mirror up to everything we have been through recently. \u003c\/b\u003eNot 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. \u003cb\u003eSuperb\u003c\/b\u003e -- Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn unflinching depiction of the ways we are all alone \u003c\/b\u003e. . . \u003cb\u003eStrout's most distinctive skill - the ability to render every character, big or small, with precision - is on full display\u003c\/b\u003e . . . 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 * Prospect *\u003cbr\u003e[Strout] has that \u003cb\u003erare ability to immerse readers in the world of her characters . . . m\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eoments of quiet revelation\u003c\/b\u003e - infidelities, or glimpses into the indignities of incontinence and cancer - feel \u003cb\u003epoignant and real,\u003c\/b\u003e but also unsentimental. It is \u003cb\u003ea compassionate, life-affirming read, and a much-needed balm for these trying times\u003c\/b\u003e * Straits Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStrout captures the minutiae of recent years with insight and compassion\u003c\/b\u003e * iNews, 40 Best Books to Read This Autumn *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eYou would be forgiven for avoiding any pandemic-set novels for the rest of the decade, but it's worth making an exception for Elizabeth Strout's\u003ci\u003e Lucy By The Sea\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e * Vogue, Best New Books for Autumn *\u003cbr\u003eThere is \u003cb\u003ean insistent generosity\u003c\/b\u003e in Strout's books, and \u003cb\u003ea restraint that obscures the complexity of their construction\u003c\/b\u003e * Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLucy By the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e is another Barton installment that\u003cb\u003e confronts the deep and familiar tangles of intimate relationships . . . Through this complex and isolating time, Lucy plumbs the nuances of human connection\u003c\/b\u003e * TIME *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePoised 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\u003c\/b\u003e * Vogue *\u003cbr\u003eAfter giving a \u003cb\u003ebeloved secondary character\u003c\/b\u003e from her 2016 bestseller \u003ci\u003eI Am Lucy Barton \u003c\/i\u003ehis own standalone with last year's \u003ci\u003eOh William!\u003c\/i\u003e, Strout returns to the source, packing her recently widowed heroine off to Maine from Manhattan during lockdown - and exploring, in her \u003cb\u003eclean inimitable prose, no less than love, loneliness, and what it means to be alive\u003c\/b\u003e * Entertainment Weekly *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHeartwarming as well as somber\u003c\/b\u003e . . . 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 . . .\u003cb\u003e Strout's understanding of the human condition is capacious\u003c\/b\u003e * NPR *\u003cbr\u003eStrout writes in a conversational voice, evoking those early weeks and months of the pandemic with\u003cb\u003e immediacy and candor\u003c\/b\u003e. These halting rhythms resonate . . . \u003cb\u003eRendered in Strout's graceful, deceptively light prose\u003c\/b\u003e * New York Times Book Review *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733300949335,"sku":"9780241607008","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780241607008.jpg?v=1719999839","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/lucy-by-the-sea-9780241607008","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}