Excerpt from Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Phooey to you," she said now, and finished her lobster roll. She rolled up the paper it had come in and tossed it onto the backseat, where that mess still showed in a stain from that idiot girl. 

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"I delivered a baby today," she had told her son on the telephone.

Silence.

"Did you hear me?" Olive asked. "I said I delivered a baby today."

"Where?" His voice sounded wary.

"In my car outside Marlene Bonney's house. There was a girl—" And she told him the story.

"Huh. Well done, Mom." Then in a sardonic tone he said, "You can come here and deliver your next grandchild. Ann's having it in a pool."

"A pool?" Olive could not understand what he was saying.

Christopher spoke in a muffled tone to someone near him.

"Ann's pregnant again? Christopher, why didn't you tell me?"

"She's not pregnant yet. We're trying. But she'll get pregnant."

Olive said, "What do you mean, she's having it in a pool? A swimming pool?"

"Yeah. Sort of. A kiddie pool. The kind we had in the backyard. Only this one is bigger and obviously super clean."

"Why?"

"Why? Because it's more natural. The baby slides into the water. The midwife will be here. It's safe. It's better than safe, it's the way babies should be born."

"I see," said Olive. She didn't see at all. "When is she having this baby?"

"As soon as we know she's pregnant, we'll start counting. We're not telling anyone that we're even trying, because of what just happened to the last one. But I just told you. So there."

"All right then," Olive said. "Goodbye."

Christopher—she was sure of this—had made a sound of disgust before he said, "Goodbye, Mom."

Excerpted from Olive, Again (Oprah's Book Club) by Elizabeth Strout. Copyright © 2019 by Elizabeth Strout. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.