India, Oct. 21 -- Elizabeth Strout's The Things We Never Say begins with Artie Dam, a 57-year-old history teacher who lives in coastal Massachusetts. He has been married to Evie for nearly three decades, has a grown son, Rob, and is well liked by his friends and colleagues. He goes sailing on his own, teaches his students about the violence and upheavals of the past, and tries to make sense of a present that seems increasingly difficult to understand. From the outside, his life appears settled.

But Artie has begun to feel a distance between himself and the people around him, and he finds himself wondering why it is so difficult for people to say what they really think and feel. His questions are personal, though they are also shaped by t...