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'They are stories of loneliness and love...And the small connections we make in this world if we are lucky'.

'Tell Me Everything' is about people; community, friendships, relationships - connections. Set within the small town of Crosby, Maine, the story primarily focuses on Lucy, Bob and Olive but through them, we're privy to others' lives and their stories. Told in simple, almost ascetic language, human nature and the desire to truly have others know and understand us, indeed, to truly comprehend ourselves, is examined through everyday lives and everyday issues, '...we don't ever really know another person. And so we make them up according to when they came into our lives...'. Olive and Lucy begin to swap, seemingly random, stories about people they've encountered or used to know, simply to acknowledge them and perhaps the unknowing impact they've had on their thoughts, 'And who - who who who in this entire world - does not want to be heard'? Perhaps if we truly listened, and understood people, we'd be kinder, more accepting, more gracious.

I loved how this book and its quiet contemplation grew on me. I haven't read any of the previous books in the series but, for me, that in no way detracted from my enjoyment. The way Strout used narration to reveal 'insider' knowledge, nicely juxtaposed with the sometimes artificial, everyday, conversations people have.

Any literary fiction fan is sure to enjoy this book, if they haven't already been taken by her previous ones.

'People suffer. They live, they have hope, they even have love, and they still suffer. Everyone does.'