“Tell Me Everything,” by Elizabeth Strout, brings together three of her best-known characters. All of them have been in multiple books by Strout, with changing storylines.

Here then is a little primer on each, including some background and some other books they’ve been in.

OLIVE KITTERIDGE

Age: 90

Home: Crosby, Maine

Background: Retired math teacher, difficult and temperamental. Her father committed suicide, and her late husband was a local pharmacist. Now living in a retirement home, she asks her friend Bob Burgess to introduce her to writer Lucy Barton, who’s new to town.

Other novels: “Olive Kitteridge” (2008), “Olive, Again” (2019), “Lucy By the Sea” (2022)

BOB BURGESS

Home: Crosby, Maine, but born in the Maine mill town of Shirley Falls and lived for a while in New York City.

Age: 65

Background: A kind-hearted lawyer who works in legal aid while living in New York City, near his more-successful lawyer brother, Jim. The brothers return home to Shirley Falls, which has had an influx of Somali immigrants, when their nephew is accused of defiling a mosque. Married and living in Crosby, he’s become close friends with writer Lucy Barton.

Other novels: “The Burgess Boys” (2013), “Olive, Again” (2019) and “Lucy by the Sea” (2022)

LUCY BARTON 

Age: 66

Home: Crosby, Maine. Raised in Amgash, Illinois, and has lived in New York City until recently.

Background: Grew up in a home with a violent father and an alienating mother and finds her voice as a writer. She gains fame as a writer and, during the pandemic, quarantines in Maine with her ex-husband. She’s now moved to Crosby permanently.

Other novels: “My Name is Lucy Barton” (2016), “Anything is Possible” (2017), “Oh William!” (2021) and  “Lucy By the Sea” (2022)