My Name is Lucy Barton, Strout Elizabeth

Lucy is recovering from an operation in a New York hospital when she wakes to find her estranged mother sitting by her bed.  They have not seen each other in years.  As they talk, Lucy finds herself recalling her troubled rural childhood and how it was she eventually ended up in the big city, got married and had children.  But this unexpected visit leaves her doubting the life she's made: wondering what is lost and what has yet to be found.