Tell Me Everything, by Elizabeth Strout

Writer Lucy Barton has featured in several of Strout’s previous novels. Here in post-COVID times she has moved from New York to a small town in Maine with her ex-husband William. There she has formed a deep friendship with lawyer Bob Burgess and has also made a connection with curmudgeon Olive Kitteridge. Over the course of a year, the friends share stories of life, love and loneliness against the backdrop of a murder investigation where Bob is defending the main suspect. A celebration of ordinary people and everyday life, Strout’s genius is in the detail of character and place that elevates those things to compelling reading. It is not necessary to have read the previous books to follow the story, but it must help to have the background and understand the quirks of character.