Earlier this year, in January, Booker-shortlisted and Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Elizabeth Strout announced the upcoming release of her new book, Tell Me Everything.
Coming August 2024, this will be Strout’s 10th published novel and the latest addition to her Shirley Falls and Crosby-centred fictional universe, a literary world she has weaved over the years with vivid color, observation and masterful storytelling.
Described as “a hopeful, healing novel about new friendships, old loves and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world”, Tell Me Everything features three of Strout’s most beloved characters. Fans of Strout’s work will be excited to see the now iconic Olive Kitteridge, acclaimed writer Lucy Barton and lovable lawyer Bob Burgess appear in her new book.
In the details released so far, we know that Bob becomes enmeshed in a murder investigation, defending a man accused of killing his own mother. We also know that Lucy is still living in the seaside house she shares with her ex-husband William and her friendship with Bob is growing stronger. And we know that Lucy finally meets the living legend that is Olive Kitteridge.
The Creation of a Fictional Universe
So, what does this latest book mean for Strout’s glittering constellation of novels that each stand alone yet connect to each other?
Well, Strout has previously talked about this sprawling connective tissue in her work — with characters appearing again in different ways across her books — and says this wasn’t her original plan. The stories and lives of her Maine characters organically started to crossover as her work developed.
But with so many novels under her belt now, fans are wondering: is there a grand plan for the end of this literary universe? And in a 2022 episode of Otherppl with Brad Listi, Strout responded with: “The answer is yes.” When asked how many books she thinks it will take to round out the conclusion, Strout said she can only think about one book at a time.
Considering this, we know there is a plan. But what, if anything, will Tell Me Everything tell us about what lies ahead for Strout’s imagined world?
A Whistle-Stop Tour of Strout’s Novels
Before we dig into that, let’s take a look at Strout’s work so far. Her first novel Amy and Isabelle (1998) follows the difficult relationship of a mother and teenage daughter in the midst of a small-town scandal. This is where the fictional town of Shirley Falls is first established. Next, Abide with Me (2006) centers on young minister and recent widower Tyler Caskey as he struggles with grief, faith and fatherhood.
Next comes Strout’s Pulitzer prize-winner, Olive Kitteridge (2008). In 13 linked stories, we meet (or overhear things about) Olive, a woman who is stubborn and cold yet deeply lovable. After Olive’s first appearance, we meet The Burgess Boys (2013). In this novel, Bob and Jim rush home to Shirley Falls to help their sister Susan with a sensitive legal crisis involving her teenage son.
Next, Strout releases My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016) where we meet acclaimed writer Lucy who receives a visit from her estranged mother while recovering in a hospital. We then meet more of Lucy’s family in Anything is Possible (2017) as she goes back to her roots to visit the siblings she hasn’t seen in 17 years.
To the delight of Strout fans, Mrs Kitteridge then returns in Olive, Again (2019). This book follows Olive in her 70s and 80s as she tries to make sense of her life and the lives of those around her. Next, we return to Lucy Barton in Oh William! (2021) as she joins her ex-husband on a road trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret. And finally, Lucy by the Sea (2022). In Strout’s most recent book, we find Lucy in a panic during the COVID-19 pandemic as William whisks her away from New York to the safety of a house by the sea in Maine.
What Will Tell Me Everything Tell Us About the End?
In Strout’s sparkling prose, we meet at first unrelated characters whose worlds later collide as they become deeply important to each other. The momentum of her work so far, and her coy yet firm confirmation that she does have a grand plan for its conclusion, shows us that Strout is working towards something big for these characters. Characters who have come to feel like old friends. But what could that big thing be?
Let’s face it, Lucy, Bob and particularly Olive are getting older. And having three beloved characters in one novel feels like it could be bittersweet, too good to be true, for Strout fans. Could Tell Me Everything be the end? Or are there more novels to come?
If so, will this be the last novel featuring Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement home? Will Lucy stay with William or fall in love with Bob? Or will a tragedy consume Strout’s literary world, a brutal yet poetic tragedy that brings everyone’s stories to an end?
Until visions and premonitions come to us like they do to Lucy Barton, we’ll have to patiently wait and, when the time comes, read to find out.
