Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

I just finished my 64th book of the year, Every Tom, Dick & Harry (Harper, February 2025) by Elinor Lipman.

First let me say right off the bat: I LOVED THIS BOOK. Elinor Lipman is one of my top favorite authors, and she sits amid some pretty prestigious company, with Elizabeth Strout, AJ Pearce, Ann Napolitano, and Agatha Christie. That’s my fiction list…I have a similar short list for nonfiction, but that’s another essay altogether.

I haven’t picked up an Elinor Lipman book yet that didn’t GRAB me from the very first page. She is a first class storyteller, and I’d love to have lunch or dinner with her and ask her some questions about her writing process. My first one would be how does she write a character so believable regardless of what age that character is? Young or old, I find it incredibly believable even with things about up to the minute technology.

I purchased my first Elinor Lipman book in 1988, which was Into Love and Out Again, which was a collection of short stories, and I was immediately a fan of hers for life.

Of her 18 published works, I’ve read almost all of her fiction and both of her nonfiction books. Here’s her complete list of works:

• Into Love and Out Again (1988) √
• Then She Found Me (1990) √
• The Way Men Act (1992) (t/b/r)
• Isabel’s Bed (1995) (t/b/r)
• The Inn at Lake Devine (1998) (t/b/r)
• The Ladies’ Man (1999) (t/b/r)
• The Dearly Departed (2001) √
• The Pursuit of Alice Thrift (2003) √
• My Latest Grievance (2006) √
• The Family Man (2009) √
• Tweet Land of Liberty: Irreverent Rhymes from the Political Circus (2012-nonfiction) √
• I Can’t Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays (2013-nonfiction) √
• The View From Penthouse B (2013) √
• On Turpentine Lane (2017) √
• Good Riddance (2019) √
• Rachel to the Rescue (2020) √
• Ms. Demeanor (2023) √
• Every Tom, Dick and Harry (2025) √

(The four books in the 90s were missed due to having two young children and working full-time. I’ll get to them soon, I promise!)

Before reading her latest, my favorite Lipman novels were The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, My Latest Grievance, and The View From Penthouse B.

Now, I think Every Tom, Dick and Harry is my favorite.

This book is sweet. The main character, Emma Lewis, has been handed over her parents’ estate sale business and given the keys to her family home while they downsize to a condo on the water. She is sort of at loose ends and accepts the offer, even though she is unsure about any of it. She doesn’t know what she wants or who she is or where she is going. But, a rent-free house and an established business are too good to pass up.

She ends up rebranding the business and taking on a housemate, who turns out to be the best thing ever, in a completely platonic kind of way. He is at loose ends, too, and doesn’t know what he wants. They form such a great partnership and a great friendship. He is everything she is missing to make her business a success, and he is great company around the house.

Add to that some twists and turns, some snappy dialogue, a bit of flirting, and well, Chapters 51 and 52 left me teary-eyed and smiling at the same time.

Once again, I LOVED THIS BOOK. It’s the perfect, uplifting book to hand to anyone who needs a bit of cheer.

Elinor Lipman, you’ve done it again. I hope I get the opportunity to meet you in person someday and tell you how much I’ve enjoyed your novels!