Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Barton – book review

Love, love, loved this book! I had no idea I was reading the 4th book in a series so what a joy to discover that I can now go back and enjoy the first three.

The main character Lucy is a writer from New York. The story starts at the beginging of the pandemic and Lucy is taken away from the city to live in Maine (by the sea) by her ex-husband who wants to save her life.

The wonder of this story is that it is just so ordinary. Just the experience of one family in a huge global crisis who had the same kind of dilemma’s that every other family – quarantine, daily walks, watching the crisis unfold on the news, worrying about family members they couldn’t get to see. The stuff that happened to all of us.

Lucy worries about her grown up daughters, she has a complex relationship with her sister, an upbringing that shaped her for life and not necessarily in a good way, a broken marriage, the grief of a lost love and a talent. Any of us could find ourselves in Lucy’s life somewhere. In a way it’s a story about nothing but actually it’s a story about everything. Full of poignant and gentle humour, for example whenever she refers to something her mother says she clarifies if she means her real mother or the nice mother she made up later. And many anecdotes end with ‘and that’s what I want to say about that’, a little reminiscent of Forrest Gump in its simplicity but no less beautiful for being understated.

I didn’t read the book. I listened to it and I think that was a much better experience. I downloaded it to listen to when I knew I wouldn’t be able to read ( due to an eye operation) and so because I was recuperating I also heard it in 3 or 4 sittings. It was a Bolinda audio book and read by Kimberley Farr.

It felt like being allowed to read someone’s diary or journal. I learnt a lot about how America experienced the pandemic which I found intriguing and I also think for me, I’m now far enough on from the Covid experience to have forgotten some of the details. I found myself thinking ‘oh yes, I did that’ or ‘oh my, I thought that very same thing ‘.

Elizabeth Strout is an excellent writer. I’ve never met a more authentic character than Lucy, she feels like a friend I’d like to take out for a coffee. I can’t wait to read what Lucy did before she moved to the sea.

The first three titles are My Name is Lucy Barton , Oh William! and Anything is Possible.