In most ways, Isabelle and Amy are like any mother and her 16-year-old daughter, a fierce mix of love and loathing exchanged in their every glance. But when Amy is discovered behind the steamed-up windows of a car with her math teacher, the vast and icy distance between mother and daughter becomes apparently unbridgeable. In this stunning novel, Strout evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother and a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets. nBefore there was Olive Kitteridge, there was Amy and Isabelle... n A novel of shining integrity and humor, about the bravery and hard choices of what is called ordinary life.--Alice Munro n n Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth Strout's bestselling and award winning debut, Amy and Isabelle--adapted for television by Oprah Winfrey-- evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother--and a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets. n n In most ways, Isabelle and Amy are like any mother and her 16-year-old daughter, a fierce mix of love and loathing exchanged in their every glance.

That they eat, sleep, and work side by side in the gossip-ridden mill town of Shirley Falls--a location fans of Strout will recognize from her critically acclaimed novel, The Burgess Boys--only increases the tension. And just when it appears things can't get any worse, Amy's sexuality begins to unfold, causing a vast and icy rift between mother and daughter that will remain unbridgeable unless Isabelle examines her own secretive and shameful past. n A Reader's Guide is included in the paperback edition of this powerful first novel by the author who brought Olive Kitteridge to millions of readers.n