**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "What truly makes Strout exceptional . .
. is the perfect balance she achieves between the tides of story and
depths of feeling."--Chicago Tribune
**
**This edition includes an original essay by Elizabeth Strout about the
origins of The Burgess Boys.
**
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post -
NPR - Good Housekeeping
Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were
children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of
Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a
sleek, successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother
their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has
always taken it in stride. But their long-standing dynamic is upended
when their sister, Susan--the Burgess sibling who stayed
behind--urgently calls them home. Her lonely teenage son, Zach, has
gotten himself into a world of trouble, and Susan desperately needs
their help. And so the Burgess brothers return to the landscape of their
childhood, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed
their relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change
them forever.
With a rare combination of brilliant storytelling, exquisite prose, and
remarkable insight into character, Elizabeth Strout has brought to life
two deeply human protagonists whose struggles and triumphs will resonate
with readers long after they turn the final page. Tender, tough-minded,
loving, and deeply illuminating about the ties that bind us to family
and home, The Burgess Boys is perhaps Elizabeth Strout's most
astonishing work of literary art.
