See the Cover of Elizabeth Strout’s Newest Novel (Exclusive)

Elizabeth Strout is stepping away from her much-loved Crosby, Maine for the first time.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author is back this Spring with The Things We Never Say, the moving story of a sliding doors moment that sparks a powerful realization for teacher Artie Dam.

Protagonist Artie Dam is leading a double life. By day, he teaches history to 11th graders. He attends holiday parties with his wife of 30 years, takes his sailboat out into the Massachusetts Bay, makes small talk with the neighbors. He seems content, present and alive.

But internally, Artie is struggling, plagued by feelings of isolation and the constant thought that the world has gone mad. He finds himself turning one question over and over in his mind: How is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us?

One day, Artie’s carefully curated reality comes crashing down when he learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, too. And once he learns this fact, he is forced to chart a new course and reconsider all of his relationships, while at the same time making peace with the mysteries at the heart of existence that he once questioned.

The Things We Never Say is a moving, thought-provoking read, reflective of the ever-changing world around us, its publisher promises. As Strout’s fans have come to expect, her latest promises to be “brimming with compassion and indelible characters, offering a profound insight into the human condition in her signature moving prose style.”

Strout herself is relishing the challenge of “a whole new set of characters,” and stepping away from the Maine-set world of beloved characters Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton. “I turned a page and left Maine,” she exclusively tells PEOPLE, adding that she found stepping into Artie Dam’s world “refreshing.”

“As all my characters do,  these new ones have gone straight into my heart, and I hope they will into yours as well,” she adds.

The Thing We Never Say takes Artie’s fears and loneliness and makes them universal, while at the same time, capturing the abiding love that sustains and holds us all.

Elizabeth Strout is also the author of My Name is Lucy Barton, Lucy By the Sea, Olive Kitteridge and Olive, Again, among others.

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The Things We Never Say will be published on May 5, 2026 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.