OH WILLIAM! PB

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022 THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER The Pulitzer Prize-winning, Booker-longlisted, bestselling author returns to her beloved heroine Lucy Barton in a luminous novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any point in life Lucy Barton is a successful writer living in New York, navigating the second half of her life as a recent widow and parent to two adult daughters. A surprise encounter leads her to reconnect with William, her first husband – and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. Recalling their college years, the birth of their daughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people, Strout weaves a portrait, stunning in its subtlety, of a tender, complex, decades-long partnership. Oh William! captures the joy and sorrow of watching children grow up and start families of their own; of discovering family secrets, late in life, that alter everything we think we know about those closest to us; and the way people live and love, against all odds. At the heart of this story is the unforgettable, indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who once again offers a profound, lasting reflection on the mystery of existence. This is the way of life, Lucy says. The many things we do not know until it is too late. 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 One of America s finest writers Sunday Times This is meticulously observed writing, full of probing psychological insight. Lucy Barton is one of literature s immortal characters-brittle, damaged, unravelling, vulnerable and, most of all, ordinary-like us all Booker Prize Judges Elizabeth Strout s new novel Tell Me Everything is available now!