by Bettie (Kiawah Island): As one might imagine from the title, this book feels like you’re having a conversation with a friend, sharing the latest stories of the “unrecorded” people in your community. Strout tells you early on that this is a book about Bob Burgess, and it is, but it is also about those other characters in the greater Crosby, Maine area that we have come to love over the years: Olive Kittredge, Lucy Barton, the Burgess family, and many of the minor characters in her books. We see them, but more interestingly, they interact with each other. (People will ask, does one need to have read all the preceding books? No, you will get properly introduced, but you get an extra level of warmth from again seeing these old friends.)

One of the things I do appreciate about this book is that there are two major story arcs as well as several other minor ones. Sometimes Strout’s story lines have been more subtle, with the effect of feeling like you’re reading inter-related short stories. This is definitely a novel, a novel with a bit of mystery (murder mystery no less), romance, commentary on our world, and her trademark strong character development. It’s probably my favorite book she has written so far. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy.

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