All tagged domestic fiction

Tell Me Everything

Tell Me Everything

Chris Mathers Jackson
Contemporary Fiction

Elizabeth Strout has done it again. For those who know and love Olive Kitteridge (of Olive Kitteridge and Olive Again) and Lucy Barton (of My Name is Lucy Barton, Oh William!, Anything is Possible, and Lucy by the Sea, previously reviewed here), her two most famous heroines, Tell Me Everything (2024) is a dream as the two characters connect. Oliver Kitteridge is now ninety and Lucy Barton lives in the same quiet town in coastal Maine as the cantankerous Olive. Their mutual friend, Bob Burgess (of Lucy by the Sea and The Burgess Brothers), connects the two Strout heroines. Their relationship frames the action in Strout’s most recent novel, but it does not take center stage. Rather, Bob Burgess is the heart of this short novel. In Tell Me Everything, Strout explores the simplicity of genuine human connection and its power to transform lives and perspectives. At the same time, Tell Me Everything’s mature cast of characters provoke questions for the reader about the nature and value of various forms of love.

The Summer Book

The Summer Book

Chris Mathers Jackson
The Classics

Tove Jansson (1914-2001) is perhaps the most famous Finnish writer and artist of the twentieth century, but it is worth noting, she was of the Swedish speaking minority. She is best known for her Moomintroll books of animated characters that continue to charm generations of readers. Jansson also wrote crisp, flowing prose. Her slender book, The Summer Book (originally published in 1978) is a beautiful story about life on a remote island in the Gulf of Finland during the summer months.