If you've already been introduced to Olive Kitteridge, Lucy and William Barton, and Bob Burgess, you'll be pleased to meet them again here. If you haven't met them yet, don't worry, just dive in!

All Elizabeth Strout's novels are so gentle and quiet and wry, with her astute observations of people of a certain age living in a small town in Maine, America.

This time Bob Burgess has been asked to defend a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother.

And Lucy has befriended Olive Kitteridge in her retirement home and visits her regularly to talk together about the people they have known.

Bob and Lucy have built a strong platonic relationship and enjoy meeting to talk about their lives, their hopes and regrets, and what might have been.

The novel moves at an easy pace. Nothing much happens and yet so much happens. It's poignant and amusing, sad yet full of hope. I loved it. I couldn't put it down and was sorry when I came to the end. Looking forward to the next one!