Book number twelve in the 26-books-in-52-weeks challenge has to be a book with someone’s name in the title.

I’ve chosen My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.

This book is written in Strout’s usual economic style and in her customary honest voice. It’s a relatively short book but it says a lot. It’s about the difficult relationship between a mother and her adult daughter. It’s in no way sentimental, but it is a moving read. If you like Anne Tyler, another American author of contemporary fiction, you’ll most likely enjoy Elizabeth Strout too.

I’ve also read another book by Strout. It too has a name in its title – in fact the name is its title. And that is Olive Kitteridge. It too is a good read.

Back Cover Blurb for My Name is Lucy Barton: Lucy is recovering from an operation in a New York hospital when she wakes to find her estranged mother sitting by her bed. They have not seen one another in years. As they talk Lucy finds herself recalling her troubled rural childhood and how it was she eventually arrived in the big city, got married and had children. But this unexpected visit leaves her doubting the life she’s made: wondering what is lost and what has yet to be found.