Witty and often profound, Amy and Isabelle confirms Elizabeth Strout as a powerful new talent. And as Amy seeks comfort elsewhere, she discovers the fragility of human happiness through other dramas, from the horror of a missing child to the trials of Fat Bev, the community peacemaker. Amy and Isabelle, also stylized as Amy & Isabelle, is the 1998 debut novel by the American author Elizabeth Strout. But when Amy is discovered behind the steamed-up windows of a car with her math teacher, the vast and icy distance between mother and daughter becomes unbridgeable.Īs news of the scandal reaches every ear, it is Isabelle who suffers from the harsh judgment of Shirley Falls, intensifying her shame about her own secret past. And eating, sleeping, and working side by side in the gossip-ridden mill town of Shirley Falls doesn't help matters. Read reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. In most ways, Isabelle and Amy are like any mother and her 16-year-old daughter, a fierce mix of love and loathing exchanged in their every glance.

In her stunning first novel, Amy and Isabelle, Elizabeth Strout evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother-and a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets. Unflaggingly engaging.What a pleasure to gain entry into the world of this book.ĭimensions : 5.10 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.70 (d) And just when it appears things can't get any worse, Amy's sexuality begins to unfold, causing a vast and icy rift between mother and daughter that will remain unbridgeable unless Isabelle examines her own secretive and shameful past.Ī Reader's Guide is included in the paperback edition of this powerful first novel by the author who brought Olive Kitteridge to millions of readers.A much talked about first novel that explores the secrets that jeopardize the love between a mother and her daughter. That they eat, sleep, and work side by side in the gossip-ridden mill town of Shirley Falls-a location fans of Strout will recognize from her critically acclaimed novel, The Burgess Boys-only increases the tension.

'A novel of shining integrity and humor, about the bravery and hard choices of what is called ordinary life.'-Alice Munro Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth Strout's bestselling and award winning debut, Amy and Isabelle-adapted for television by Oprah Winfrey- evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother-and a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets. Before there was Olive Kitteridge, there was Amy and Isabelle.

Amy and isabelle by elizabeth strout