Oh William!

A chance encounter reunites newly widowed Lucy Barton with her first husband in this portrait of love, loss and a decades-long partnership. Elizabeth Strout returns to Lucy Barton in a novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any point in life.

Lucy Barton is a successful writer living in New York, navigating the second half of her life as a recent widow and parent to two adult daughters. A surprise encounter leads her to reconnect with William, her first husband—and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. Recalling their college years, the birth of their daughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people, Strout weaves a portrait of a tender, complex, decades-long partnership.

Oh William! captures the joy and sorrow of watching children grow up and start families of their own; of discovering family secrets, late in life, that alter everything we think we know about those closest to us; and the way people live and love, against all odds. At the heart of this story is the voice of Lucy Barton, who once again offers a reflection on the mystery of existence. 'This is the way of life,' Lucy says. 'The many things we do not know until it is too late.'