Elizabeth Strout Introduces New Characters in Her Melancholy New Novel

Elizabeth Strout introduces new characters in her melancholy new novel

The Things We Never Say is a departure from Strout’s Olive Kitteridge/Lucy Barton universe, but in its psychological exploration of ordinary individuals it’s familiar territory.

Elizabeth Strout's latest novel probes loneliness and a fractured America

In a poignant new novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Olive Kitteridge" explores the limits of human connection and the weight of unspoken truths.

How a Near Drowning Led to Elizabeth Strout's 'Extreme' New Book

Elizabeth Strout at the East River in New York. All images courtesy of Penguin Random House. It started with a story Elizabeth Strout caught in passing in a garden. Someone’s father had been out on the water off the coast of Massachusetts and saw a man’s head bobbing above the surface. They pulled him out, took him to shore, “and that was all I heard,” she explains. “I could not get that image out of my head. I kept thinking, What was he doing i…

Elizabeth Strout on Creating a Quietly Strong Protagonist

After creating literary immortals like Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, and Bob Burgess, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout is back with her eleventh book, which contains a multitude of new characters, centered around Artie Dam, 57, a self-deprecating high school teacher beloved by his students who seems woven into his small-town community, but who, as the book begins, feels so lonely he is suicidal. What motivated you to create this n…