He's also struggling with the aftermath of As direct, funny, sad, and human as its heroine, Strout’s welcome follow-up to Olive Kitteridge portrays the cantankerous retired math teacher in old age.

There’s Lucy Barton, the protagonist of four previous Strout novels, and Olive Kitteridge ... a character who first appeared in her 2013 book The Burgess Boys, their lives intersect here ...