The Things We Never Say
by Elizabeth Strout
Artie Dam is living a double life. By day he teaches history to eleventh graders and lends a kind word to those who need it, while another part of his life stays hidden.
Best for: Readers who like quiet, character-driven literary fiction.
The Things We Never Say is #21 on BookWard's Rising chart for October 2026: the hottest new books published in the past two years.
What The Things We Never Say is about
Artie Dam is 57, a respected high school history teacher in a quiet Massachusetts coastal town, and he is lonely in a way almost no one around him suspects. He has been privately thinking about ending his life. A decade ago his son Rob was behind the wheel in a crash that killed his girlfriend, and Rob has been withdrawn ever since. Artie and his wife Evie, married thirty years, have drifted apart. On weekends he takes his sailboat out on the bay, and he keeps wondering how little people really know about those closest to them.
The story runs through the summer and autumn of 2024, with the presidential election drawing near in the background. When Artie learns a secret that could overturn his world, he has to look again at the people he thought he understood. Elizabeth Strout writes here about a new central character, outside the linked world of her earlier books. Readers who value quiet, humane fiction about marriage, family and the distance between people will find a lot to think about.
Why The Things We Never Say is on the Rising chart
Its Wikipedia page had 28,251 views last month. The Rising score blends six public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 against the other new books and weighted as shown.
| Signal | This book | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reader pace | 21 | 28% |
| Buzz | 92 | 24% |
| Growth | 37 | 18% |
| Being read right now | 43 | 12% |
| Reader love | 51 | 10% |
| Newness | 100 | 8% |
Holding strong Wikipedia attention is steady (within -20% to +25% of the two months before).
The numbers behind it
- Wikipedia: 28,251 page views last month, against an average of 23,347 in the two months before (up 21%). Read the article.
- Open Library readers: 3 want to read, 0 reading now, 2 have read it.
- Ratings: 4 out of 5 from 1 Open Library ratings.
The Things We Never Say on the Rising chart: history
First on the chart this month. The history grows with every monthly update.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | #21 | 53 |
Questions about The Things We Never Say
Is The Things We Never Say a new book?
Yes. The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout was first published in 2026, and BookWard's Rising chart only includes books published in the past two years.
Why is The Things We Never Say on the Rising chart?
Its Wikipedia page had 28,251 views last month.
More new books readers are finding
- The Calamity Club Kathryn Stockett
- John of John Douglas Stuart
- Half His Age Jennette McCurdy
- Martyr! Kaveh Akbar
Prefer proven favorites? See the Top 100, or all Rising books.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views. The description is paraphrased from real source text (Open Library or Wikipedia). A book is on the Rising chart only if it was published in 2025 or 2026 and its readers are active and its interest is not falling. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales. Read the full methodology.
Find new books before everyone else
Add what you have read, rate it, and BookWard will recommend what to read next.
Free while in beta. No credit card needed.