Elizabeth Strout returns with one of her most tender books to date
The Booker Prize longlist has been unveiled, and one of my favourite books of 2026 has been included. I’ve read a lot of books this year, but none quite as thought-provoking and tender as The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout.
You can view the longlist below:
The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis
Switzy by Emma Cline
Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman
The End of Everything by M. John Harrison
The Disappearers by Marlon James
Black Bag by Luke Kennard
The Renovation by Kenan Orhan
May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry
The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
John of John by Douglas Stuart
All Them Dogs by Djamel White
The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams
Elizabeth Strout has long been one of my favourite writers. I don’t think there’s a storyteller quite as gifted as Strout, and it’s all down to her deep understanding of human emotion.
Her books are about ordinary people and their everyday lives, but there’s a stillness that encompasses you when reading these stories. They’re so impactful in their simplicity, and The Things We Never Say is no different.
The way Elizabeth Strout intertwines the horror of the modern world with Artie Dam’s own life is done with such delicacy.
This is a strikingly stunning story about losing yourself in a capsizing world, and a book everyone will benefit from reading.
Artie Dam is living a double life. He spends his days teaching history to eleventh graders, 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 neighbors, 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 head. 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.
Buy The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout here.
Buy the Kindle version here.
