“There is not a scintilla of sentimentality in this exquisite novel. Instead, in its careful words and vibrating silences, My Name Is Lucy Barton offers us a rare wealth of emotion, from darkest suffering to--‘I was so happy. Oh, I was happy’--simple joy.”--Claire Messud, The New York Times Book Review
“Spectacular . . . Smart and cagey in every way. It is both a book of withholdings and a book of great openness and wisdom. . . . [Strout] is in supreme and magnificent command of this novel at all times.”--Lily King, The Washington Post
“A short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds . . . It evokes these connections in a style so spare, so pure and so profound the book almost seems to be a kind of scripture or sutra, if a very down-to-earth and unpretentious one.”--Marion Winik, Newsday
“Potent with distilled emotion. Without a hint of self-pity, Strout captures the ache of loneliness we all feel sometimes.”--Time
“An aching, illuminating look at mother-daughter devotion.”--People
“A quiet, sublimely merciful contemporary novel about love, yearning, and resilience in a family damaged beyond words.”--The Boston Globe
“Sensitive, deceptively simple . . . It is Lucy’s gentle honesty, complex relationship with her husband, and nuanced response to her mother’s shortcomings that make this novel so subtly powerful. . . . [It’s] more complex than it first appears, and all the more emotionally persuasive for it.”--San Francisco Chronicle
“Strout maps the complex terrain of human relationships by focusing on that which is often unspoken and only implied. . . . A powerful addition to Strout’s body of work.”--The Seattle Times
“[Strout] reminds us of the power of our stories--and our ability to transcend our troubled narratives.”--Miami Herald
“Magnificent.”--Ann Patchett