Oprah reveals "Olive, Again" by Elizabeth Strout as new book club pick
Oprah Winfrey announced "Olive, Again" by Elizabeth Strout as her new book club selection on "CBS This Morning" on Thursday. The sequel to Strout's Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Olive Kitteridge" brings back Olive, a stubborn and blunt woman as she navigates her second marriage and complicated relationship with her son.
Strout, who also joined "CBS This Morning," said she knew she had to bring Olive back for a second novel "when she just showed up" in her mind during a trip to Norway.
"I was just sitting there doing my emails and all of the sudden I saw her so clearly," she said. "I saw Olive getting out of her car in front of the marina with a cane, and I realized I have to get this down."
Winfrey praised Strout for "taking the simplest of things and turning them into something that feels real to us," and explained why Olive resonates with readers.
"I love her because she's so 100% authentically herself," Winfrey said. "She always says the things that we are always thinking, like when those grandkids came to visit, and she's thinking these bratty kids — everybody thinks it, but you don't say it."
People even come up to Strout to tell them how much they relate to Olive, the author said.
"It's so interesting that people come up and they very happily tell me that they're Olive," she said. "But what's interesting is when husbands come up and their wives are right there and they'll say, 'My wife is Olive.'"
For Oprah's Book Club, readers can join the community by following @OprahsBookClub on Instagram.
Read an excerpt from "Olive, Again" here:
Labor Excerpt by CBS This Morning on Scribd
Read about Winfrey's last book club pick, "The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates.