Oh William!: A Novel

"Elizabeth Strout’s third novel about writer Lucy Barton finds her beloved character distracting herself from grief over her second husband’s death by revisiting her relationship with her first, the philandering father of her daughters. Against all odds, William and Lucy have remained friendly, and he turns to her to help navigate some unhappy developments in his life, which lands them on a road trip to Maine. Lucy is repeatedly reminded that people are essentially unknowable and the past is never truly past. But oh, that titular Oh! — two letters that perfectly express Lucy’s abiding fondness for and exasperation with her ex."