Elizabeth Strout Popular Books

Elizabeth Strout Biography & Facts

Elizabeth Strout (born January 6, 1956) is an American novelist and author. She is widely known for her works in literary fiction and her descriptive characterization. She was born and raised in Portland, Maine, and her experiences in her youth served as inspiration for her novels–the fictional "Shirley Falls, Maine" is the setting of four of her nine novels.Strout's first novel, Amy and Isabelle (1998), met with widespread critical acclaim, became a national bestseller, and was adapted into a movie starring Elisabeth Shue. Her second novel, Abide with Me (2006), received critical acclaim but ultimately failed to be recognized to the extent of her debut novel. Two years later, Strout wrote and published Olive Kitteridge (2008), to critical and commercial success, grossing nearly $25 million with over one million copies sold as of May 2017. The novel won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The book was adapted into a multi Emmy Award-winning mini series and became a New York Times bestseller.Five years later, she published The Burgess Boys (2013), which became a national bestseller. My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016) was met with international acclaim and topped the New York Times bestseller list. Lucy Barton later became the main character in Strout's 2017 novel, Anything is Possible, a collection of linked stories about the town Lucy Barton came from, although Lucy only appears briefly in the book. A sequel to Olive Kitteridge, titled Olive, Again, was published in 2019. Oh, William! a third Lucy Barton novel was published in October of 2021. She won the Siegfried Lenz Prize in 2022. A fourth novel in the series, Lucy by the Sea was published in 2022. Early life and education Strout was born in Portland, Maine, and was raised in small towns in Maine and Durham, New Hampshire. Her father was a science professor, and her mother was an English professor and also taught writing in a nearby high school.After graduating from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, she spent a year in Oxford, England, followed by studies at law school for another year. In 1982, she graduated with honors, and received a J.D. degree from the Syracuse University College of Law. That year her first story was published in New Letters magazine. Career Early career Strout moved to New York City, where she waitressed and began developing early novels and stories to little success. She continued to write stories that were published in literary magazines, as well as in Redbook and Seventeen. She enrolled in Law School at Syracuse University, and practiced law for six months before a funding cut ended her job as a Syracuse legal-services advocate. In an interview with Terry Gross in January 2015 she said of the experience, "law school was more of an operation, I think." She stated in a 2016 interview with The Morning News,I wanted to be a writer so much that the idea of failing at it was almost unbearable to me. I really didn’t tell people as I grew older that I wanted to be a writer—you know, because they look at you with such looks of pity. I just couldn’t stand that. Rise to prominence with Amy and Isabelle While teaching part-time at Borough of Manhattan Community College, Strout worked for six or seven years to complete her book Amy and Isabelle, which when published was shortlisted for the 2000 Orange Prize and nominated for the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Amy and Isabelle was adapted as a television movie, starring Elisabeth Shue and produced by Oprah Winfrey's studio, Harpo Films.Strout was a National Endowment for the Humanities lecturer at Colgate University during the fall semester of 2007, where she taught creative writing at both the introductory and advanced levels. She was also on the faculty of the master of fine arts (MFA) program at Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. Olive Kitteridge and its Pulitzer Prize Abide with Me was published in 2006 by Random House to further critical acclaim. Ron Charles of The Washington Post summarized her book by saying: "as she did in her bestselling debut, Amy and Isabelle, Strout sets her second novel in a small New England town, whose natural beauty she returns to again and again as this tale unfolds against the background of the Cold War tensions of the 1950s." The New Yorker welcomed the novel with a positive review: "with superlative skill, Strout challenges us to examine what makes a good story—and what makes a good life." Goodreads rated the novel 3.75 stars out of 5. Strout's third book, Olive Kitteridge, was published two years later in 2008. The book featured a collection of connected short stories about a woman and her immediate family and friends on the coast of Maine. Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker called the short stories "taciturn, elegant." In 2009, it was announced that the novel won the year's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The book became a New York Times bestseller and won the Premio Bancarella Award, at an event held in the medieval Piazza della Repubblica in Pontremoli, Italy. Louisa Thomas, writing in The New York Times, said:The pleasure in reading Olive Kitteridge comes from an intense identification with complicated, not always admirable, characters. And there are moments in which slipping into a character’s viewpoint seems to involve the revelation of an emotion more powerful and interesting than simple fellow feeling—a complex, sometimes dark, sometimes life-sustaining dependency on others. There’s nothing mawkish or cheap here. There’s simply the honest recognition that we need to try to understand people, even if we can’t stand them. The Burgess Boys and recent work The Burgess Boys was published on March 26, 2013, to further critical acclaim. A New York Times review noted that Strout "handles her storytelling with grace, intelligence and low-key humor, demonstrating a great ear for the many registers in which people speak to their loved ones," but criticized her for not developing certain characters. NPR noted the novel by saying: "This is an ambitious novel that wants to train its gaze on the flotsam and jetsam of thought, as well as on big-issue topics like the politics of immigration and the possibility of second chances." The book became her second New York Times bestseller. The Washington Post reviewed it with the following observation: "[T]he broad social and political range of The Burgess Boys shows just how impressively this extraordinary writer continues to develop."After a three-year break, she published My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016), a story about Lucy Barton, a recovering patient from an operation who reconnects with her estranged mother. The New York Times reviewed it with the following observation: "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." The novel topped The New York.... Discover the Elizabeth Strout popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Elizabeth Strout books.

Best Seller Elizabeth Strout Books of 2024

  • Amy and Isabelle synopsis, comments

    Amy and Isabelle

    Elizabeth Strout

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER The debut novel from the Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Olive Kitteridge evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother, and a parent's rage at the di...

  • The World According to Anna synopsis, comments

    The World According to Anna

    Jostein Gaarder & Donald Bartlett

    When fifteenyearold Anna begins receiving messages from another time, her parents take her to the doctor. But he can find nothing wrong; in fact he believes there may be some truth...

  • The Life of Samuel Johnson synopsis, comments

    The Life of Samuel Johnson

    James Boswell & David Womersley

    In Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, one of the towering figures of English literature is revealed with unparalleled immediacy and originality. While Johnson’s Dictionary remains a...

  • The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao synopsis, comments

    The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao

    Martha Batalha & Eric M. B. Becker

    'Zesty' Daily Mail'A real gem of a book' StylistA wickedly funny tale of two rebellious sisters in 1940s Rio de JaneiroEuridice is bright and ambitious. But this is Brazil in the ...

  • The Moon and the Bonfires synopsis, comments

    The Moon and the Bonfires

    Cesare Pavese & Tim Parks

    'Insinuating, haunting and lyrically pervasive' The New York Times Book ReviewA new translation by Tim ParksTwenty years after making his fortune in America, Eel is drawn back to t...

  • You Be Mother synopsis, comments

    You Be Mother

    Meg Mason

    What do you do, when you find the perfect family, and it's not yours? A charming, funny and irresistible novel about families, friendship and tiny little white lies.The only thing ...

  • The Golden Hour synopsis, comments

    The Golden Hour

    William Nicholson

    She loves him. She's happy. But could she be happier? 'Capturing humour in the small, perfectly skewered moments of everyday life, this is a story of small, largely middleclass liv...

  • Bel-ami synopsis, comments

    Bel-ami

    Guy de Maupassant & Douglas Parmee

    Young, attractive and very ambitious, George Duroy, known to his friends as BelAmi, is offered a job as a journalist on La Vie francaise and soon makes a great success of his new c...

  • The Saints of Swallow Hill synopsis, comments

    The Saints of Swallow Hill

    Donna Everhart

    Where the Crawdads Sing meets The Four Winds as awardwinning author Donna Everhart's latest novel immerses readers in its unique settingthe turpentine camps and pine forests of the...

  • Vladimir synopsis, comments

    Vladimir

    Julia May Jonas

    An NPR, Washington Post, Time, People, Vulture, Guardian, Vox, Kirkus Reviews, Newsweek, LitHub, and New York Public Library Best Book of the Year “Delightful…cathartic, devious, ...

  • Anything Is Possible synopsis, comments

    Anything Is Possible

    Elizabeth Strout

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An unforgettable cast of smalltown characters copes with love and loss in this “compulsively readable” (San Francisco Chronicle) novel from #1 bestsellin...

  • How Strange a Season synopsis, comments

    How Strange a Season

    Megan Mayhew Bergman

    “Dazzling.” The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice “Richly satisfying.” The Wall Street Journal “These are stories you want to live in…a collection perfectly suited for ou...

  • Abide with Me synopsis, comments

    Abide with Me

    Elizabeth Strout

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the Pulitzer Prize–winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Olive Kitteridge comes a “superb” (O: The Oprah Magazine) novel th...

  • Lucy by the Sea synopsis, comments

    Lucy by the Sea

    Elizabeth Strout

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout comes a poignant, pitchperfect novel about a divorced couple stuck together during lockdownand the lo...

  • Tell Me Everything synopsis, comments

    Tell Me Everything

    Elizabeth Strout

    From Pulitzer Prizewinning author Elizabeth Strout comes a hopeful, healing novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.With her ...

  • More Than You Can Say synopsis, comments

    More Than You Can Say

    Paul Torday

    The bestselling author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN returns with a Buchanesque thriller.'Torday has an extraordinary gift for making apparent "normality" look sinister and strang...

  • Eden in Winter synopsis, comments

    Eden in Winter

    Richard North Patterson

    Two months after the suspicious and muchpublicized death of his father on the island of Martha's Vineyard, it is taking all of Adam Blaine's character to suture the deep wounds bo...

  • Inishowen synopsis, comments

    Inishowen

    Joseph O'Connor

    From the bestselling author of Star of the Sea and Shadowplay, 'a powerful, moving adventure of raw fate and betrayed love' (Independent on Sunday).Inspector Martin Aitken's life i...

  • Loss of Innocence synopsis, comments

    Loss of Innocence

    DAVI PATTERSON & Richard North Patterson

    June, 1968. America is in a state of turbulence, engulfed in civil unrest and uncertainty. Yet for Whitney Dane spending the summer of her twentysecond year on Martha's Vineyard ...

  • My Childhood synopsis, comments

    My Childhood

    Maxim Gorky

    Coloured by poverty and horrifying brutality, Gorky's childhood equipped him to understand in a way denied to a Tolstoy or a Turgenev the life of the ordinary Russian. After his ...

  • Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket synopsis, comments

    Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket

    Hilma Wolitzer

    An NPR Best Book of the Year A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice An Electric Literature Best Short Story Collection of the Year Finalist for the Chautauqua Prize T...

  • The Whale at the End of the World synopsis, comments

    The Whale at the End of the World

    John Ironmonger

    Previously published as NOT FORGETTING THE WHALETHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'A gentle and uplifting tale of warding off apocalypse in a remote corner of Cornwall . . . charming' Fi...

  • A Question of Age synopsis, comments

    A Question of Age

    Jacinta Parsons

    A beautifully written, searing and powerful examination of women and ageing that you will not be able to put down: intense, compelling, poetic, raging. Warning: this is not a selfh...

  • Birds of a Lesser Paradise synopsis, comments

    Birds of a Lesser Paradise

    Megan Mayhew Bergman

    An “astonishing debut collection, by a writer reminiscent of such greats as Alice Munro, Elizabeth Strout, and even Chekhov” (Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants), focusing o...

  • The Forsyte Saga synopsis, comments

    The Forsyte Saga

    John Galsworthy

    The Forsyte Saga is the first part of John Galsworthy’s magnificent, wellloved Forsyte Chronicles, which trace the changing fortunes of the wealthy Forsyte dynasty through fifty ye...

  • The Early Birds synopsis, comments

    The Early Birds

    Laurie Graham

    The Early Birds is the touching and funny followup to The Future Homemakers of America. 'Funny, heartwarming and a real treat. I would recommend it to anyone!' Katie Fforde'Wit and...

  • A Keeper synopsis, comments

    A Keeper

    Graham Norton

    From Graham Nortonthe BAFTA Award–winning Irish television host and author of the “charming debut novel” (New York Journal of Books) Holdinga masterly and haunting tale of secrets ...

  • The Done Thing synopsis, comments

    The Done Thing

    Tracy Manaster

    In the tradition of Olive Kitteridge and The Woman Upstairs, this “deeply human and morally saturated novel” (Library Journal, starred review) explores how a terrible crime changed...

  • Small Odysseys synopsis, comments

    Small Odysseys

    Hannah Tinti & Neil Gaiman

    “Lovers of the short story, rejoice! There’s something for everyone in this anniversary collection . . . The collection makes the argument that time and again, it is stories that s...

  • My Name Is Lucy Barton synopsis, comments

    My Name Is Lucy Barton

    Elizabeth Strout

    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the tender relationship between mother and daughter in this extraordinary novel by the Pulitzer Prize–winn...

  • The Castle in the Pyrenees synopsis, comments

    The Castle in the Pyrenees

    Jostein Gaarder

    Two former lovers are brought back together ... but can they really trust their pasts? The new novel from the bestselling author of SOPHIE'S WORLD.Through five intense years in the...

  • Big Love synopsis, comments

    Big Love

    Brooke Blurton

    A raw, moving and uplifting memoir about courage, resilience and the transformative power of love, from one of Australia's most captivating personalities'Powerful, heartbreaking an...

  • Great Expectations synopsis, comments

    Great Expectations

    Charles Dickens & Charlotte Mitchell

    'His novels will endure as long as the language itself' Peter AckroydDickens's haunting late novel depicts the education and development of a young man, Pip, as his life is changed...

  • The Lark synopsis, comments

    The Lark

    Edith Nesbit

    'A charming and brilliantly entertaining novel... shot through with the lighthearted Nesbit touch' Penelope Lively, from the introduction"When did two girls of our age have such a ...

  • Old Crimes synopsis, comments

    Old Crimes

    Jill McCorkle

    Beloved author Jill McCorkle delivers a collection of masterful stories that are as complex as novelsdeeply perceptive, funny, and tragic in equal measureabout crimes large and sma...

  • The Burgess Boys synopsis, comments

    The Burgess Boys

    Elizabeth Strout

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “What truly makes Strout exceptional . . . is the perfect balance she achieves between the tides of story and depths of feeling.”Chicago TribuneThis edit...

  • Olive, Again synopsis, comments

    Olive, Again

    Elizabeth Strout

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, a character who has captured the imagi...

  • Quinn synopsis, comments

    Quinn

    Em Strang

    A piercingly original debut about the limits of forgiveness, from an awardwinning Scottish poet A Scotsman 'Best Book of 2023' From an awardwinning Scottish poet, an unforgettable ...

  • The Things We Never Said synopsis, comments

    The Things We Never Said

    Susan Elliot Wright

    From the acclaimed author of The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood Everyone can change their life. But what happens when it hides a secret that changes everything? In 1964, Maggie wak...

  • The Orange Girl synopsis, comments

    The Orange Girl

    Jostein Gaarder

    From the author of SOPHIE'S WORLD, a modern fairy tale with a philosophical twist.'It should be read by all' VOGUE'My father died eleven years ago. I was only four then. I never th...

  • A Lifetime of Impossible Days synopsis, comments

    A Lifetime of Impossible Days

    Tabitha Bird

    Australian Women's Weekly GREAT READ for August'Prepare to immerse yourself in wonder, childish delight and dark, dark trauma in this unique novel from a new and important Australi...

  • The Promise of a Normal Life synopsis, comments

    The Promise of a Normal Life

    Rebecca Kaiser Gibson

    For readers of Marilynne Robinson, Elizabeth Strout, and Katie Kitamura, the indelible journey of a quiet young womanthe “silent person” in the Sederfinding her way.   Hailed ...

  • Olive Kitteridge synopsis, comments

    Olive Kitteridge

    Elizabeth Strout

    WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE THE EMMY AWARD–WINNING HBO MINISERIES STARRING FRANCES MCDORMAND, RICHARD JENKINS, AND BILL MURRAYIn a voice more powerful and compassionate than ever...

  • The Sweetest Days synopsis, comments

    The Sweetest Days

    John Hough

    A riveting and poignant portrait of marriagelauded by New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand as “gorgeous and heartbreaking”that explores the long union of a middleaged...