Lucy By The Sea by Elizabeth Strout

 

Thoughtful musings from the main character, Lucy Barton as she isolates from the Pandemic in Maine. Living with her former husband who now past his third divorce declares he wants to save her from Covid, she discovers a new pace of life and new acquaintances. Covid is not something I ever imagined reading about as a "main character" in a novel, yet this book captivates with its descriptions about a world retreating from normal into a new "normal". Lucy reflects on her entitled retreat from Covid ravaged New York City, and considers issues previously lost amid a sometimes frenetic urban existence. Small scale life on the Maine coast is isolated but so evidently not safe from the increasingly chaotic world that surrounds it yet it affords the slowed pace of life that opens her mind to the wonders of Nature, a couple of trees growing on a tiny island off the coast, and crashing waves hitting rocks. This novel resonated with me so much because I had retreated a couple of years before the Pandemic to the California coast, and have enjoyed a rhythm of life cushioned by the beauties and solace of Nature. This is a wonderful book.