Page 3 of 4
Book Reviews
[R]ead slowly, to savor the depths beneath what at first seems a simple story of a mother-daughter reconciliation.... Strout develops the story in short chapters in which the reader intuits the emotional complexity of Lucy’s life.... This masterly novel’s message, made clear in the moving denouement, is that sometimes in order to express love, one has to forgive.
Publishers Weekly
The book does feel a bit abbreviated, but that's only because the characters and ideas are so compelling we want to hear more from the author who has limned them so sensitively. Fiction with the condensed power of poetry: Strout deepens her mastery with each new work, and her psychological acuity has never required improvement.
Kirkus Reviews