Many of Strout’s novels are set in a fictional area of rural Maine, and feature her invented towns of Crosby, Shirley Falls, and West Annett. Strout was born and raised in Portland, Maine, and some speculate that Crosby is based on the actual town of Brunswick, Maine. The towns are small, set in rural coastal Maine, and the residents are mostly white working-class people.

Strout introduced this fictional world in her debut novel, Amy and Isabelle (1998). Isabelle and her daughter live in Shirley Falls, a mill town that has fallen on hard times. Strout continues building this rural Maine community in her next novel, Abide with Me (2006), which takes place in nearby West Annett. In Olive Kitteridge (2008) and later, Olive, Again (2019), Strout creates another nearby town, Crosby, which will be the setting of Lucy by the Sea (2022). In The Burgess Boys (2013), Strout returns Bob and Jim Burgess to their hometown of Shirley Falls. Each of these books builds this coastal Maine community, its residents, and geography.

Within this world, Strout’s characters pass from book to book, often appearing in each other’s stories. For example, Isabelle and Olive become friends in Olive, Again, living near each other in an assisted living facility.