Hey, it's NPR's book of the day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. If you spent enough time with an ex before

breaking up, it's reasonable to assume they know a lot about you, like a lot, a lot. Now, that could

either be good or bad, but that knowing is key to the relationship at the center of today's book. It's titled

O. William, and it's from author Elizabeth Strout, who is returning to a familiar character

of hers, Lucy Barton, whose ex-husband needs help, decades after their breakup. And in this interview

with here and now's Robin Young, they talk about that very specific feeling of tenderness from a long ago X mixed with some irritation too.

Here's the interview.

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customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from NPR sponsor, Subaru.

Join Subaru in celebrating their seventh annual National Make a Dog's Day on October 22nd, a day to do

something special for all dogs. This day, combined

with the Subaru Loves Pets Initiative, has helped many shelter animals find loving homes, including

hard-to-adopt underdogs. Learn more at Subaru.com slash pets. Elizabeth Strout is back. Yay. She is the

Pulitzer Prize winning author of Olive Kderidge and the sequel, Olive Again, about a somewhat prickly retired school teacher from Maine. Readers swooned. Well, Strout is now revisiting another character, Lucy Barton, from the novels, My Name is Lucy Barton, and Anything is Possible, a woman trying to leave her impoverished, traumatic beginnings in Illinois behind, but wearing them like a ball and chain.

The new book is, O. William, an exasperated phrase Lucy uses in response to her ex-husband William.

Lucy's now a successful writer writer living in New York, though

her bleak childhood lurks. Her second husband has died. And that first one, William, needs her help.

So she agrees to go on a road trip with him to Maine to help him uncover the truth about his mother,

Catherine, and the sister he didn't know he had.

Oh, William is out today, and Elizabeth Stroud is here for a look at what happens when a character takes up residence in an author's head and refuses to go away. Welcome back.

Thank you so much. It's nice to be here. Thanks.

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