Books: “Lucy by the Sea” by Elizabeth Strout

I’ve been crazy about Laura Linney as long as I can remember. She first caught my eye in a 1990’s production of “Holiday”, then bowled me over in “Tales of the City.” Her performance as the sister in “You Can Count on Me” (2000) and as the smiling villainess in “Ozark” (2021) cemented her place in my pantheon of GOATs.

Just before the pandemic hit, we were lucky enough to catch Linney in “My Name is Lucy Barton,” a one-woman theatrical adaptation of the Elizabeth Strout bestseller. I don’t think I’d ever come across such a seamless match of actress and character—the character being Lucy Barton, a woman from a small Illinois town who moves to New York City, and who cranks out novels everybody loves.

Which brings me to “Lucy By the Sea”, Stroud’s latest masterpiece, the first novel I’ve read that is all about the pandemic—from start to finish—and how it affects Lucy, her grown daughters, and her ex-husband William.

William realizes the seriousness of COVID right away and implores her to accompany him to faraway Maine. “I’m trying to save your life,” he tells her. Lucy isn’t so sure, but she cancels her appointment with her Manhattan hair stylist and accountant and travels north with William. Once they arrive, and she starts watching the news from the safety of seaside Maine, she finally grasps the gravity of COVID—something many of us also had trouble wrapping our heads around at first.

Through Lucy’s POV, we are reacquainted with  the all-too-familiar signs of the Pandemic, Year One: the estrangement from friends you would normally see regularly, the six-feet-of-distance protocol followed even in the smallest towns, and the rising death tolls. Lucy adapts to her new situation reluctantly, all the while fending off the suspicions of the local Down Easters.

You don’t read a Strout novel like “Lucy By the Sea” so much as inhale it; her sensitive, empathetic prose, along with her gift for storytelling, keep you fully engrossed. (I finished this book in one day.) Will Lucy reconcile with her ex? Will she ever return to New York City? You actually care—very much.

Just imagine Laura Linney as the voice of Lucy Barton as you fly through this lovely, not-at-all-gloomy book. It’ll almost make you forget the character is entirely made up.