This is my first Elizabeth Strout, and it gave me pretty much exactly what I was expecting: a…

This is my first Elizabeth Strout, and it gave me pretty much exactly what I was expecting: a lovely, heartbroken little novel about the private shocks and ripples of a kindly old teacher&rsquo;s heart. Strout shows us her characters&rsquo; hearts simply and gently, like hummingbird eggs — careful not to break them, because the world already does — and nudges us to marvel at how they keep beating.