Lillian: Stories

Conversations with solemn children, bereaved parents, and forthcoming strangers become four glimpses into one woman’s life: four stories of remarkable introspection and resolve from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

A mourning mother, traveling alone, stays at a cottage in the English countryside. She finds herself unwillingly pulled into small talk with the house’s lonesome caretaker, but the exchanges become an anchor.

A woman shouldering a recent loss goes to her doctor’s office for a rou...