Oprah calls her book club pick “one of those books that you start and don’t want to put down.” And whether or not you already know Olive Kitteridge—the prickly heroine Elizabeth Strout first introduced to the world in 2008—we’re certain that Olive, Again will make you fall in love with her little slice of the world. The book draws us into Olive’s richly layered inner life and explores the changing landscape—human and otherwise—of her small Maine town. Age has done very little to mellow Strout’s grump of a heroine, whose disdain for everything from “stupid” baby showers to uppity city people is channeled impeccably by actress Kimberly Farr.
The Broadway regular creates vivid voices for all the other intriguing residents of Crosby, Maine, nailing Strout’s tricky shifts in character, tone, and pacing. Like a box of fancy chocolates, we savored these 13 interconnected stories one at a time—but we wouldn’t blame you if you gorged on them all at once. Strout’s book is a marvel—in no small part because it reminds us to love hard and well while we can.