My Name Is Lucy Barton

Author: Elizabeth Strout
Title: My Name Is Lucy Barton
The storyline is simple. Lucy Barton, wife, mother and author, has been hospitalized for a mysterious ailment. Her estranged mother comes to visit, travelling across the country to sit by Lucy's bedside. Their conversations are light and easy. But simmering underneath their chatter are long held tensions, painful longings and family secrets. Throughout the novel it is Lucy's voice, spare, honest and compassionate, that carries the story as she relates her struggles from a difficult and lonely life to a happier one. Some novels are loud and clever. This jewel of a book is quiet, gentle and filled with wisdom.

Pairs with Sugar Plum Pudding black tea, Ninja Panther shortbread cookies and a clementine.