Pulitzer Prize winners Richard Ford, Richard Russo and Elizabeth Strout will each publish a new book this spring. All three works represent a departure from the storytelling for which the authors are best known.
“Anything Is Possible,” by Elizabeth Strout. Release date: April 25
This book jumps directly off from last year’s bestseller, “My Name Is Lucy Barton.” Its narrative spotlights supporting characters from the previous book.
Strout said she wrote the books in tandem.
“Lucy’s mother is with her in the hospital and they’re talking about different people from Lucy’s background, and I would think to myself, ‘Hold on, let’s write a story about Mississippi Mary.’ I would push Lucy aside and scratch down scenes from these other stories. In my mind, it was sort of all of one piece. But it stands on its own as a book, as well.”
“Trajectory,” by Richard Russo. Release date: May 2
The story collection includes four long pieces, set in academe in Maine, Venice and Wyoming.
“It’s all stories about the trajectory of people’s lives,” Russo said. “A lot of them are middle-aged or older people who look at their lives and think to themselves, ‘How did I get here?’ Who were they when they were young and what decisions did they make that brought them to this particular place in time where they are questioning everything?”
“Between Them,” by Richard Ford. Release date: May 2
“Between Them” is a memoir of Ford’s parents’ marriage.
A traveling salesman, the elder Ford was absent from home during the workweek. He died of a heart attack in Ford’s arms when the boy was 16.
“The real challenge for me was that my memory was not very full of information about him,” Ford said about writing the memoir. “A lot of time had gone by, and I had tried to do what I always do, which is accumulate information. Every memory I had of him, everything he might have said, I wrote it all down.”
As hard as it was to write about his parents, Ford is pleased with the results.
“I think I did as good a job as maybe I’ve ever done at writing something,” he said. “But I had a long, long time to think about it.”
– Michael Berry
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