Elizabeth Strout, "Anything Is Possible"

A companion volume to My Name is Lucy Barton, Strout’s sixth novel unfolds in Lucy’s home town and brings to life some of the many characters Lucy and her mother talked about during Lucy’s recovery. The two Pretty Nicely Girls tell their own stories, one describing her materially rich, but emotionally compromising marriage, the other recounting how she discovered her mentor in a book. The high school janitor, Tommy, recalls a good deed that became a test of his faith. And Lucy, too, returning after seventeen years away, also has more to say. Strout, the author of Abide with Me, Amy and Isabelle, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge, once again delivers a rich and nuanced portrait of family life.

Strout is inconversation with Lynn Neary, an NPR arts correspondent and frequent guest host often heard on Morning Edition and Weekend Edition.

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Produced by Tom Warren