Tell Me Everything

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Strout

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout comes a “stunner” (People) of a novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.

“Tell Me Everything hits like a bucolic fable. . . . A novel of moods, how they govern our personal lives and public spaces, reflected in Strout’s shimmering technique.”—The Washington Post

With her remarkable insight into the human condition and silences that contain multitudes, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?”

It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known—“unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them—reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.

Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love.”

©2024 Elizabeth Strout (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Strout superfans will be thrilled to see the prickly protagonist of the author’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Olive Kitteridge . . . finally cross paths with the tender heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton and Lucy by the Sea. But if you’ve never cracked the spine of a Strout novel before, don’t sweat it—you’ll feel like a Crosby, Maine, local by the end of the first chapter.”—Oprah Daily

“A rich tapestry, intricately wrought yet effortlessly realized, both suspenseful and meditative . . . Suffering and the enduring of it, the human impulse to solve and resolve confronting the fundamental unknowability of others and life’s essential mystery, finding hope, love, and connection in improbable places: Strout’s perpetual preoccupations are here explored with clear sighted rigor, emotional generosity, and bighearted joy.”—The Boston Globe

“The narrative threads make for dishy small-town drama, but even more satisfying are the insights Strout weaves into the dialogue. Longtime fans and newcomers alike will relish this.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“With tenderness, honesty, intimacy, and compassion, Strout uses her cunning powers of observation to draw readers beyond the mundane to the miraculous complexities where true friendship lies. . . . An absolute must-have.”—Booklist, starred review

Always surprising and somehow real

Characters to bring home- a touch of mystery, the tale is vivid and leaves me feeling and thinking

Storytelling At Its Best

Raw honesty, realism, compassion, suspense, reflection and wisdom—this book is an experience worth having…

Deep and fabulous.

The story, though not conventionally dramatic, is compelling and personal. I loved it in ways I didn’t expect.

Extraordinary.

Elizabeth Strout has worked her magic once again through telling slow, interwoven stories about everyday people living lives that reveal fundamental truths of humanity. This immensely brilliant tale involves familiar and beloved characters who live in various towns in rural Maine. Bob Burgess, Lucy Barton, Olive Kittridge, and others share their day-to-day wonder, struggles, heartbreaks, and desires - every single thing it means to be alive. The result is deeply moving and feels like gold. She catches the reader off guard with her unique signature pacing and respect for her characters. I am profoundly enriched every time I read one of her brilliant novels.

Another lovely one

Well read, everything we've come to expect from the author. This book makes me long for another book club so I'd have discussion options.

A bit simplistic language

The name Bob spoken frequently and unnecessarily was annoying. Surprisingly, the married couples used no pet names, seemed a bit unrealistic.

A Gentle Story of Life

These collected stories were beautiful illustrations of life, told in a realistic, yet poignant manner. The characters were very real, each describing heartfelt situations that anyone might face in one’s lifetime, whether living in this small, Maine town, or large, metropolitan city. It was easy to listen to, and very quickly brings you into a circle of ordinary, yet sensitive people.

The kindness and tenderness of the story

I enjoyed the reader’s performance and I liked the storyline. Ii also enjoyed the characters

Elizabeth Strout is magic!

I love her books and characters so very much that I feel lonely for them as soon as I finish one. I reread them all, which is wonderful, but I crave more Elizabeth Strout! Nothing is as wonderful as discovering these people and their singular souls! Please, please Elizabeth, write more, quickly!!

Repetitive

Boring story. Time to stop using the same characters to construct a novel. Olive is no longer interesting.