Literary Fiction · Free kit
The Things We Never Say
Artie Dam is fifty-seven, a well-liked high school history teacher in a coastal Massachusetts town in 2024, the man who sails on weekends and still cannot quite believe he lives in his wife's inherited house by the water. Inside, he feels cut off from Evie, now a family therapist, and from their son Rob, withdrawn since a crash ten years earlier. Elizabeth Strout's Booker Prize 2026 shortlisted novel is spare, political, and quietly devastating: a portrait of loneliness, the things a family will not name, and what happens when a long-buried secret finally reaches the person it was kept from.
“I wonder why people never say anything real.”
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The Things We Never Say Printables
Get the full printable pack on Etsy, or print individual pages from Bingo, Discussion Questions, and Hosting.
Die-cut stickers
A sticker sheet of a modest sailboat, a dinghy, oyster crackers, a flowered pillowcase, and a harbor horizon — journal extras, not spoilers.
Included in printable pack
Favorite quote cards
Blank cards for the line that stayed: never say anything real, Damn-dam, or the explorer speech.
Included in printable pack
Reading tracker
Start date, finish date, and a pages-read tracker for a short novel that still needs air.
Included in printable pack
Book club invite
Printable invite with the well-liked-teacher hook and meeting details.
Included in printable pack
Review sheet
Likes/dislikes scorecard for Artie, Evie, the politics, the ending, and whether silence counted as love.
Included in printable pack
Unsent-note cards
One-page cards for the surprise touch — "History — Dam" on the front, a blank line inside.
Included in printable pack