The Things We Never Say

[Elizabeth Strout’s] 11th novel might well be the first great work of fiction about Trump’s presidency …This is a deeply existential novel, preoccupied with secrecy, loneliness and the limits of understanding. Strout is brilliant at uncovering what goes on beneath the surface of ordinary life …There is nothing showy about Strout’s prose, but over the past two decades her novels have become an ambitious literary project, a kind of interconnected anatomy of American solitude

[Elizabeth Strout’s] 11th novel might well be the first great work of fiction about Trump’s presidency …This is a deeply existential novel, preoccupied with secrecy, loneliness and the limits of understanding. Strout is brilliant at uncovering what goes on beneath the surface of ordinary life …There is nothing showy about Strout’s prose, but over the past two decades her novels have become an ambitious literary project, a kind of interconnected anatomy of American solitude

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

Readers will delight in the discovery of this new fictional world around Artie Dam, and the possibilities that lie ahead...Let’s hope that this fine author continues steadily along her path, delivering unto her loyal readers story upon story, gift upon gift

One of the most profoundly moving books I have read - I envy anyone reading it for the first time. Elizabeth Strout is one of those rare novelists whose books leave you a little wiser, open and more compassionate than you were when you began reading. Emotionally stunning, devastatingly wise, a beautiful read. Her best novel yet

Elizabeth Strout writes extraordinary fiction about ordinary people...Strout’s gift is to reveal their frustrations and epiphanies in stories that are deceptively simple yet carry a profound emotional charge

This is a profound, resplendent novel that stares our present moment in the face while throwing a lifeboat to cling to in the storm. And Artie Dam is someone you may never be able to forget, not least for his white socks and how they irritate his wife — these are the things we remember, which Strout, a titan of the most intricate storytelling, understands well.

One of the best novels I have read. I am so stunned by it, how moving and beautiful and perfect it is

Strout is always smart, always perceptive, and Artie is a memorable figure

I was torn between wanting to devour it in a single sitting and slowly savouring its brilliance. Strout writes about some of the darkest, saddest things with such grace and humanity that you're left still feeling optimistic about the world. The Things We Never Say is utterly captivating in the classic Stroutian understated way. No one else delves into the intricacies of everyday life with such searing insight and honesty. If stranded on a desert island, The Complete Works of Strout, would unequivocally be my book of choice to remind me of the complexity and ultimate goodness of people.

A meditation on the unspoken fears that define us and the abiding love that, despite everything, manages to sustain us

Elizabeth Strout is the Pulitzer prize-winning author of My Name is Lucy Barton, Anything is Possible, Oh William!, Amy and Isabelle, Abide With Me, The Burgess Boys, Olive Kitteridge , and Olive, Again . She has been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, the Orange Prize and the Booker Prize. She lives in Maine.