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Oh William!

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2022

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Oh William!

By: Elizabeth Strout
Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022
THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

The Pulitzer Prize-winning, Booker-longlisted, bestselling author returns to her beloved heroine Lucy Barton in a luminous novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any point in life

Lucy Barton is a successful writer living in New York, navigating the second half of her life as a recent widow and parent to two adult daughters. A surprise encounter leads her to reconnect with William, her first husband - and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. Recalling their college years, the birth of their daughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people, Strout weaves a portrait, stunning in its subtlety, of a tender, complex, decades-long partnership.

Oh William! captures the joy and sorrow of watching children grow up and start families of their own; of discovering family secrets, late in life, that alter everything we think we know about those closest to us; and the way people live and love, against all odds. At the heart of this story is the unforgettable, indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who once again offers a profound, lasting reflection on the mystery of existence. 'This is the way of life,' Lucy says. 'The many things we do not know until it is too late.'

'A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own' Hilary Mantel

'A terrific writer' Zadie Smith

'She gets better with each book' Maggie O'Farrell

'One of America's finest writers' Sunday Times

'This is meticulously observed writing, full of probing psychological insight. Lucy Barton is one of literature's immortal characters-brittle, damaged, unravelling, vulnerable and, most of all, ordinary-like us all' Booker Prize Judges

© Elizabeth Strout 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Marriage Inspiring Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

One proof of Elizabeth Strout's greatness is the sleight of hand with which she injects sneaky subterranean power into seemingly transparent prose. Strout works in the realm of everyday speech, conjuring repetitions, gaps and awkwardness with plain language and forthright diction, yet at the same time unleashing a tidal urgency that seems to come out of nowhere even as it operates in plain sight (Jennifer Egan)
Strout is not only mercilessly funny on the page, she's also unerringly precise about the long-term effects of loneliness, parental neglect and betrayal . . . The final scene between William and Lucy has been carouselling in my mind for days now . . . devastating and vital, bleak and tender

What sets Strout's work apart is her characterisation . . . Long on empathy while steering clear of sentimentality, her prose bears the minerality of a crisp white wine, with a seeming simplicity that belies its profound power
A very good novel, deft when it needs to be and ambivalent where certainty would be facile. Its celebration of the ungraspable riddles and sudden judgments of real life becomes compulsive. . . . I cannot get Lucy Barton out of my head
[Strout] is a novelist of the inner sensibility, and what makes her so compellingly readable is her rendering of the ebb and flow of emotion and impression, of the stream of consciousness between past and present that makes Lucy cousin to Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway
Strout is very good at parsing the contradictory elements that make up our relationship with ourselves and the lives we lead, and the extent to which these elements exist in a state of flux. Such a pleasure to read. And so very wise
Strout gets you to reassess every relationship you've ever had while you can still do something about it
Elizabeth Strout is one of my very favorite writers, so the fact that Oh William! may well be my favorite of her books is a mathematical equation for joy. The depth, complexity, and love contained in these pages is a miraculous achievement (Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House)

The end lines of this novel from the staggeringly gifted Elizabeth Strout are a revelation - a profound understanding of our relationships, ourselves . . . A luminous novel about love, loss and family secrets; hard to believe a writer can fathom us so well
A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own (Hilary Mantel)
All stars
Most relevant
A confirmed Olive Kitteridge fan, was unsure about the third in a trilogy without previous knowledge of Lucy Barton. Loved it, however, and wonderful narration.

Entertaining and Elevating

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Another thoughtful and engaging story from Elizabeth Strout. Excellent narration too, I would thoroughly recommend.

Oh Elizabeth!

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I did enjoy listening to Kimberly Farr's reading of Oh William. She read it so well that I was convinced I was listening to the author reading her own novel. Great writing as always from ES . I found the characters credible and the plot moved along at just the right pace.

A portrait of love, loss and family secrets

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This story is very pertinent for those of us who are in our later years! It’s a non story in a way as it speaks of life’s developments and reflections. But I enjoyed it immensely and the narration was beautiful and completely in accord with the books content. So overall a great nook to listen to. I admit I found Lucy’s anxiety wearing, sloughs understandable, as the characters were all so human so deeply relatable.

A simple slice of life?

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Loved the book. The reader really added to the overall enjoyment - very accomplished bringing the different characters to life effortlessly. I am about to read it again so rich are the complex reflections of this Lucy Barton. The characterisation of the narrator, her ex husband, her adult kids and other people in the story is powerful. It's a commentary on marriage, on how our past influences us for much longer than we think. Highly recommended.

Evocative and perceptive

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