Tell Me Everything

Elizabeth Strout’s Tell Me Everything was published by Random House in 2024. Her 10th novel, Tell Me Everything is a New York Times bestseller and Oprah Book Club pick. Strout won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for Olive Kitteridge, published in 2008. Tell Me Everything is the fifth book in the Amgash series, in which Strout further develops the world of fictional Crosby, Maine and its residents. Tell Me Everything probes the themes of The Importance of Perspective in Storytelling, The Impact of the Past on the Present, and The Ebb and Flow of True Connection.

This guide refers to the 2024 Kindle edition of the novel, published by Random House.

Content Warning: The source text contains depictions of suicide and suicidal ideation, child sexual assault, abuse, rape, and alcohol use disorder.

Plot Summary

Bob Burgess and his wife, Margaret Estaver, live in the center of the small town of Crosby, Maine. Bob is a semi-retired lawyer, and Margaret is a Unitarian minister. They are well-liked and respected.

Lucy Barton and her husband, William, moved to Crosby from New York City at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lucy and Bob have become good friends and take a weekly walk together. Neither Margaret nor William is bothered by this, but both are unaware of the love developing between Bob and Lucy.

Olive Kitteridge, however, notices. Olive asks Bob to bring Lucy to her house—she knows that Lucy is a writer and has a story to tell. When they first meet, Lucy blushes at Bob’s name. Olive tells Lucy her mother’s story; this begins a series of meetings between Olive and Lucy in which they share stories of what they call “unrecorded lives” and ponder their meaning.

Last fall, a local woman named Gloria Beach went missing. Bob and Susan remember her, a cafeteria worker at their school who the children nicknamed “Bitch Ball.” Gloria’s daughter, Diana, was in their class, and Susan remembers Diana telling disturbing stories about abducted women on the playground. Matt and Gloria lived together in town until her disappearance.

Bob’s brother, Jim, invites him to New York to visit him and his wife, Helen, but then rescinds the offer the following week without telling Bob why. In February, Bob’s ex-wife, Pam, visits him from New York. She tells him that during the pandemic, she realized she has an alcohol use disorder. In addition, her husband had an affair. Now, she is living in New York alone while he stays at their house in the Hamptons. Pam also tells Bob that Jim’s wife, Helen, has only a month to live.

That night, Bob tells Margaret about Pam, but she doesn’t seem to listen, and he reflects that Lucy will understand. He also tells Lucy about Helen’s illness and the fact that Jim didn’t tell him. She points out that Jim’s behavior toward Bob is connected to their father’s death, which Jim was responsible for but let Bob take the blame. Bob becomes worried about Jim, especially after Helen calls and asks him to help with Jim and their son Larry’s relationship.

In March, Gloria Beach’s body is found in the quarry, and law enforcement begins building a case against her son, Matt. Diana calls Bob and asks him to be Matt’s lawyer. Bob agrees. When he meets Matt, he discovers the man is an extraordinary painter but completely socially isolated.

When Helen dies, Bob travels to New York for the funeral. Jim and Larry’s relationship is very strained. Meanwhile, Bob and Margaret fight. He tells her that she is self-absorbed, and after thinking it over, she agrees. From then on, Margaret makes a new effort to connect with him, but Bob still doesn’t trust her. He continues his walks with Lucy and believes he is falling in love with her.

Bob is convinced that Matt is innocent of Gloria’s death but believes that Matt knows something about the crime. However, they grow closer on a personal level—Bob buys Matt a cell phone, and they agree to track each other’s locations. Matt tells Bob that Diana is allowing him to track her location as well.

When Jim’s son, Larry, is hit by a car, Bob decides to travel to New York. However, at the airport, he sees Diana and can tell that something is very wrong. He leaves the airport and calls Matt, who isn’t home but can tell from his locator app that Diana is heading toward his house. Bob calls the police. When he gets to Matt’s house, he discovers that Diana has died by suicide. The police arrive shortly after and tell him that they have solved the case: Diana killed Gloria.

Bob stays with Matt for nearly a week. Matt admits that as soon as Gloria’s body was found at the quarry, he knew Diana was the killer—a family friend raped her at the quarry, and when she told her mother, Gloria called her a “whore.” Matt also gives Bob Gloria’s journals. When he reads them, he discovers that she’d been abused and hated herself for being a bully but was unable to stop.

Jim’s son, Larry, wakes from his coma and wants to build a relationship with Jim. However, Jim feels the need to tell Larry about his father’s death, and Larry turns cold again. Bob confronts him with the reality of the story. However, neither is sure what really happened. Bob asks him to feel compassion for Jim, and their relationship rebuilds. 

Bob’s infatuation with Lucy continues to the point where it almost makes him ill. When they meet for a walk, she is distant, and they have their first argument. They don’t speak for three weeks, and though Bob misses her, he also feels relief. Olive tells Bob that he isn’t in love—it is merely a “crush,” and Bob and Margaret continue to rebuild their relationship.