Oprah Winfrey has selected Elizabeth Strout’s Tell Me Everything as the latest pick for her popular book club.
Strout’s novel, published Tuesday by Random House, brings back her beloved characters Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, and Bob Burgess as their town of Crosby, Maine, is rocked by a shocking crime. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “Strout’s many fans will love this sweet, rambling tale. More critical readers may feel it’s time for her to move on.”
Winfrey announced her selection in a video posted on Instagram. “Tell Me Everything has all the things, romance and mystery and secrets and even a possible murder, experienced through an examination of the unrecorded lives of just ordinary folks,” she said. “She, Elizabeth Strout, is an exquisite writer of the human condition, and there’s a cast of characters that I know you all are going to love.”
Winfrey and Strout appeared on CBS Mornings to discuss the novel’s selection. Strout talked about the moment when she learned her book had been picked for the club.
“I was in Turin, Italy,” she recalled. “I got a call, and she said she was Oprah, and I thought, OK. I got very flummoxed. I was very excited, but then I got flummoxed. I actually thought somebody might be pulling my leg, so I was not certain how I should react. I just kept saying, Are you really Oprah?”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
