Anything Is Possible
Elizabeth Strout returns to the rural Illinois of My Name Is Lucy Barton and lets the camera drift, building nine interlocking stories from the people Lucy left behind. A Vietnam veteran tends his sister's farm and his own quiet shame. A guidance counselor measures a marriage by its silences. A bed-and-breakfast hostess weighs an old affair against the life she chose. Each chapter is its own complete short story, and together they form a novel about how poverty, family secrets, and the long ache of class shape people who would never use those words about themselves. Strout's prose remains deceptively plain, generous and unflinching at once, and the book deepens every page Lucy Barton has been on.
Themes & atmosphere
Also by Elizabeth Strout
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What you might want to know about Anything Is Possible
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In and around Lucy Barton's hometown of Amgash, Illinois, linked stories follow the neighbors, classmates, and family members shaped by the same poverty, shame, and small-town gossip Lucy left behind.
Yes. Anything Is Possible is a companion novel to Elizabeth Strout's My Name Is Lucy Barton, set in the same Illinois town and featuring people Lucy mentions. It can be read on its own but rewards readers familiar with Lucy Barton.
Anything Is Possible was written by Elizabeth Strout, published in 2018 by Random House Trade Paperbacks.
Anything Is Possible is 306 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Anything Is Possible takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Anything Is Possible is a standalone novel by Elizabeth Strout, not part of a series.
Anything Is Possible is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.