Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town and in the world at large, but she doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance... a former student who has lost the will to live... Olive's own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities... and Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.