elizabeth strout lucy barton books in order

Lucy’s mother observes that “I always thought she liked my circumstances being so much lower than her own. Lucy recalls a story her mother tells about a woman named Katie Nicely, who spent time with Lucy’s mother although their circumstances were quite different. I wanted to tell her about the life I was living now.” But as Lucy and her mother reminisce, she realizes that this desire to be known and to be accepted is a focal point of life and relationships. That desire to be known, for Lucy, started with her mother. “I wanted my mother to ask about my life. While the book addresses the relationship between mother, daughter and family, it focuses on how little we know each other, how much we want to be known and how difficult it is to know oneself. “Why didn’t I go there to visit her?…I think–to say it simply–it was easier not to go.” As much as Lucy resented her family for not showing interest in her, ultimately, Lucy felt that her connection to them was a burden and some of the memories best left alone. Remarkably, Lucy only sees her mother one more time before her mother’s death, nine years after Lucy is released from the hospital. ‘I don’t know anything about a truck.'” And when Lucy tries to tell her mother about her success as a writer, her mother “looked at me quizzically, as if I had said I had grown extra toes, then she looked out the window and said nothing.” When she tells her mother that she remembers her father’s truck, her mother says “‘The truck?’ My mother’s voice sounded surprised. For instance, Lucy remembers the terror she felt when, as a child, she was locked in her father’s truck as punishment. But when it comes to discussing some of the things that Lucy thinks of as significant in her own life, her mother is unresponsive. During their week long conversations, her mother reminds Lucy of old friends and acquaintances and brings her up to date on the directions their lives have taken.

Prior to her mother’s visit to the hospital, Lucy had not seen her mother for years. We learn that she grew up extremely poor in rural Illinois and until she was 11 years old she lived in a garage with her parents, her brother and her sister. Lucy is a successful writer living in New York City. During that time they remember people and events in their lives and Lucy reflects on her past, her mind and her heart. While she is recovering, her estranged mother comes to visit and stays with her in the hospital for almost a week. Lucy is telling her story looking back over a nine-week period she spent in the hospital recovering from complications after removal of her appendix. “ My Name is Lucy Barton” is a deceptively simple book that on first blush might seem to be about a relationship between a daughter and mother.

Elizabeth strout lucy barton books in order