Do you like to take walks? Why, or why not? What are the benefits of this activity, particularly for Lucy?ġ0. Discuss Lucy’s relationship with her daughter, Becka. What do you think this represented for William? What sort of touchstone did it provide?ĩ. Lucy takes many walks, alone and with others. Why do you think Lucy invented a mother? What does this say about how we deal with trauma in the past?Ĩ. William became quite curious about the discovery of the distant guard tower along the shore. How did these siblings shape Lucy and William? What role did siblings play in their lives?Ħ. What is the significance of Lucy’s feelings toward Bob Burgess? Were you surprised by the direction it took? Why, or why not? How do you think this connection will endure beyond the novel?ħ. Which ones stayed with you, and why?ĥ. Lucy’s brother. Why do you think they have remained in each other’s lives for so long? Were you satisfied with how they ended up at the end of the novel, or were you wary, like their daughters? Please explain.Ĥ. There are many moving scenes in LUCY BY THE SEA. How would you describe the tone of LUCY BY THE SEA, and why?ģ. Discuss Lucy’s relationship with her ex-husband, William.

Could you understand Lucy’s ambivalence? How did you process the early days of the pandemic?Ģ. Reflective. In love with literature? Try audio books or writing classes for free for 30 days.✨ Book Club Questions for Lucy by the Seaġ. At the start of the novel, Lucy doesn’t understand William’s concern about getting out of New York City. At the heart of this story are the deep human connections that unite us even when we’re apart-the pain of a beloved daughter’s suffering, the emptiness that comes from the death of a loved one, the promise of a new friendship, and the comfort of an old, enduring love.

Rich with empathy and emotion, Lucy by the Sea vividly captures the fear and struggles that come with isolation, as well as the hope, peace, and possibilities that those long, quiet days can inspire. For the next several months, it’s just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea.

As a panicked world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and on-again, off-again friend, William. With her trademark spare, crystalline prose-a voice infused with “intimate, fragile, desperate humanness” ( The Washington Post)-Elizabeth Strout turns her exquisitely tuned eye to the inner workings of the human heart, following the indomitable heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton through the early days of the pandemic.

Lucy barton by the sea