Lucy by the Sea

William Gerhardt is Lucy’s first husband—they were married for 20 years before they divorced due to his repeated infidelity. He and Lucy have been divorced for nearly 20 years at the time the novel begins. He is recently divorced from his third wife, Estelle, with whom he has a 10-year-old daughter, Bridget. He is 71 years old when the pandemic begins.

Although William and Lucy are close due to their nearly 40-year relationship, he is a very private person. As Becka comments: “It seems like Dad always needs to have secrets” (283). This is one of his key character traits. For example, Lucy discovers, during their time in Maine, that William had prostate cancer and a botched surgery. He had told no one, not even Estelle, to whom he had still been married at the time. He doesn’t often share his feelings, but he opens up to Lucy during the novel, and they reconnect in a new way.

William is a parasitologist, which is the reason he is so quick to act when the Covid virus descends on New York City. He has recently discovered he has a half sister, Lois, and over the course of the novel, he connects with her. He also develops a new career in Maine, working with the university to help farmers with potato parasites. By the end of the novel, William has bought the house they are living in, and has convinced Lucy to stay with him in Maine.

Throughout the novel, William struggles with regrets over the way he has lived his life. In a letter to Lois, he confesses that “he had lived the life of a boy and not a real man, and he was very sorry that this was the case. I guess many of us have regrets, he wrote, but my regrets seem to grow as I get older” (76). He is deeply ashamed of his infidelity during his marriage to Lucy. Another regret William faces is the source of his wealth, which came from his grandfather’s war profiteering in World War II. While his father refused the money, William took it. While in Maine, he finds the abandoned tower on the coast that was used during World War II to look for German submarines, and his guilt comes to the surface.

Bob Burgess is one of the first people that Lucy meets when she and William arrive in Maine. He is another recurring character that appears in Strout’s fictional world of Crosby, Maine, first in her novel, The Burgess Boys (2013). Believing himself to be the cause of his father’s death, Bob was shocked later in life when his brother, Jim, admits that he had been the cause, and had let Bob take the blame for most of their lives.

Bob lived in New York City years ago and was married to Pam Carlson, with whom William had an affair. Now, he is a lawyer in Crosby and is married to Margaret, a Unitarian minister. He misses New York, yet at the same time, shares Lucy’s fear that he will not be able to go back after the pandemic is over.

When William and Lucy arrive in Crosby, Bob arranges for their house rental and brings them groceries. He is thoughtful and nonjudgmental—he is a good listener, and Lucy finds great comfort in his presence. This is partly due to their common background. Although Bob’s family was not as poor as Lucy’s, he understands her memoir in a way that no one has—“you think it’s about mothers and daughters, which it is, but it’s really, or it was to me, about trying to cross class lines in this country” (32). Lucy thanks him for being one of the few people to really understand her memoir, and from then on, considers him a true, close friend.

Chrissy Gerhardt is Lucy and William’s oldest daughter. She is married to Michael, a financial advisor. When Covid hits New York, she and Michael take William’s advice and move to Michael’s parents’ house in Connecticut. During the year that the novel spans, Chrissy has two miscarriages, contracting Covid in the emergency room after the second one. She has had one miscarriage previously, and struggles with the deep grief of three lost pregnancies.

When, near the end of the novel, Chrissy considers having an affair, Lucy warns her: “Chrissy this is about loss. You’ve lost three pregnancies and you’re angry. That’s really understandable. But don’t blow your marriage up over it” (266). Chrissy initially blames her impulse on Lucy and William’s news that they are getting back together. However, she sees the truth of Lucy’s words, and decides to reconcile with Michael.  

In the course of their conversation, Lucy is able to reconnect with her daughter, but as two adult women. Although Chrissy is her daughter, Lucy helps her by being frank about the reasons behind her own affair. Her conversation with Chrissy shows how Lucy has grown as a mother; she recognizes her daughters’ adulthood and autonomy, and allows herself to be honest about her own choices.