The writer Lucy Barton has long been divorced from her first husband, William, with whom she was married for many years and raised two daughters. But when Lucy’s second husband dies and William’s wife leaves him, they seek each other’s support and go together to Maine in search of William’s sister, whose existence he had until recently not suspected. The events of the present are intertwined in Lucy's story with memories of the past: about childhood in a poor provincial town, about life with William in New York, about vacation trips with his mother. William has always been a mystery to Lucy, and as she ponders who he is, she also ponders grief, loneliness, family ties, and love. Strout's quiet, laconic prose holds a surprising charm. Irony, light humor, warmth, compassion, psychology - all this makes Elizabeth Strout's new book a real literary phenomenon.