The cover may say this is "a novel in stories", but it's not: it's interlinked stories, some only tangentially linked to the eponymous character, the others focussing in on her life. The stories are thematically related, to some of the eternal themes: love, relationships, growing old, growing old in a relationship, raising children, and dealing with grown children. The characters are finely observed, the writing spare like the Maine setting.returnreturnA couple of the stories I know will stay with me: the man who grows slowly into an affair, bringing home donuts for both her and his wife on Sunday mornings. The visit to the grown child who is leading a foreign life. The man who has this sort-of love for the young widow working in his pharmacy.returnreturnThere are others which are notable duds, in particular a story about how a night of terror changes the title character and her husband. It means to say something about post 9/11 life, but it doesn't. And it is particularly frustrating that the aftermath of that incident never echoes in stories about Olive that occur later in time.returnreturnStill, I'll remember this book for the honest grappling the characters do with love, as it changes over time, and becomes more elusive and yet more important - through inlaws, sickness, and tragedy.