Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout

The title could have been "Crosby, Maine", since these are a bunch of stories placed in that fictional town. Anyway Olive is present in all of them if sometimes only fleetingly. Every character is masterfully represented and everyone is a well suited candidate to enter the local lonely hearts club (as most of us are, I'm afraid). It won the Pulitzer prize and Frances McDormand starred a TV adaptation. First-rate narrative.