The Things We Never Say: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2026

A BARACK OBAMA 2026 SUMMER READING LIST PICK

The stunning new novel about love, loneliness and new beginnings from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of My Name is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout.

'Strout is brilliant at uncovering what goes on beneath the surface of ordinary life’ THE TIMES

'Emotionally stunning, devastatingly wise . . . her best novel yet' RACHEL JOYCE

'Elizabeth Strout writes extraordinary fiction about ordinary people' TELEGRAPH

‘A moving, tender and wise novel . . . This might be Elizabeth Strout’s best yet’ CLARE CHAMBERS

'A devastating look at the dangerous cracks in family life and in the contemporary world at large. Strout’s prose is brilliantly understated and all the more powerful for that' BOOKER PRIZE JUDGES 2026

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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

'She gets better with each book' MAGGIE O'FARRELL