The Things We Never Say
The new standalone novel from the bestselling, prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge and Lucy By The Sea
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 7 May 2026
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- 12,99 €
Publisher Description
FROM THE PULITZER-WINNING, BOOKER-SHORTLISTED ELIZABETH STROUT COMES A STUNNING STANDALONE NOVEL OF LOVE, LONELINESS AND NEW BEGINNINGS
'Emotionally stunning, devastatingly wise . . . her best novel yet' RACHEL JOYCE
‘A moving, tender and wise novel about a committed teacher who is utterly confounded by the emotional complexities of daily life. This might be Elizabeth Strout’s best yet’ CLARE CHAMBERS
Artie Dam is a man with a secret. He spends his days teaching history to high schoolers, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbours, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad—at himself and the people around him—and turns a question over and over in his mind: how is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us?
And then, one day, Artie learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, one that threatens to upend his entire world. Once he learns it, he is forced to chart a new course, to reconsider the relationships he holds most dear—and to make peace with the mysteries at the heart of our existence.
With exquisite prose and profound insight, Elizabeth Strout captures the way grief reverberates through decades, the comfort found in deep friendships and the freedom that comes when we break free of our secrets. The Things We Never Say is a stunning new novel from one of our most acclaimed observers of the human heart.
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PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH STROUT:
'A terrific writer' ZADIE SMITH
'A superbly gifted storyteller' HILARY MANTEL
'Elizabeth Strout is one of my very favourite writers' ANN PATCHETT
'Strout's ability to reveal wonder in unrecorded lives continues to astonish' TELEGRAPH
'She gets better with each book' MAGGIE O'FARRELL
'A beautiful read' OPRAH WINFREY
'Strout is, as ever, wonderfully attentive life's escapable cruelties and woes' SUNDAY TIMES
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A married high school teacher confronts his despair and isolation in this insightful outing from Strout (Tell Me Everything). Artie Dam, 57, has a beautiful home on the Massachusetts coast, a long and stable partnership with his wife, Evie, and a job he loves, but he can't shake his "accretion of loneliness," nor can he bring himself to reveal it to anyone. Recalling the suicide of a character in a novel he read, Artie is reminded that "people do die of loneliness" and decides to end his life. After he nearly drowns in a sailing accident, his brush with mortality renews his desire to live, but he's rocked again when his 27-year-old son, Rob, confides in him that a DNA test showed he's not Artie's biological child. As father and son reimagine their bond, Artie must decide whether to jeopardize his marriage by telling Evie what he's learned. Some of the episodes feel a bit random, but Strout masterfully explores her central themes (after a "lunatic" former president is reelected, a clear reference to Trump, Artie feels like the "country was committing suicide") and offers timeless observations, suggesting, for example, that her characters feel distant from those they love most because "to say anything real was to say things that nobody wanted to know." This will stay with readers.
