Lucy by the Sea is the story of Lucy Barton through the early days of the Covid Pandemic. I haven't read the previous book, My Name is Lucy Barton but I didn't find it difficult to follow who the characters are in Lucy by the Sea.
The novel did accurately remind us of all the horrors of lockdown, illness, overcrowded hospitals and isolation that the Pandemic brought upon us, however I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable. Lucy's ex-husband takes her from Manhattan to a sleepy village in Maine where he wants to keep her safe (he is going through another divorce). Her daughter Chrissy leaves New York with her husband to stay in an empty house of her in-laws in Connecticut while they are in Florida. Lucy is a very negative person throughout the book, but she is grieving the death of her husband, David.
None of them seem to be particularly faithful. William had many affairs while he was married to Lucy, her other son-in-law is having an affair in New York and William himself was the result of an affair between his mother and a German prisoner of war. Lucy mentions several times that she loves William's friend, Bob (William had an affair with Bob's wife).
When Lucy calls her sister who is in the hospital with Covid, her sister tells her "You're a selfish person and you've always thought you were better than me. I'm sorry that you do. I should pray for you but I am too tired."
That about sums up how I viewed Lucy too.
People who are wealthy and could just move into an empty house in the country or by the sea, fared the pandemic much better than those who had to continue working and living in cramped quarters and constantly exposed to the virus. While taking a train from Boston, a railroad worker told Lucy 90% of people working for that railroad contracted the virus.
