Elizabeth Strout

Thank you.

It's lovely to be here and to talk with you again.

Thank you.

I didn't know that it was a new character at all.

I just realized later that his face in this photograph was just so unbelievably ordinary.

just the most ordinary looking face and I just stared at it because it was, and he looked pleasant and ordinary, had these big wire rimmed glasses and his last name was Dam, D-A-M-M.

And I just remember that face and the name Dam

And then at some point afterwards, a few months, maybe it was a year, I don't know.

But I realized Artie Dam with one M. And then I explained in the book why it only has one M. Yeah.

And that was Artie.

This fellow mentioned one day, just mentioned that he and his father had been in a boat one day and they had seen this man's head in the water and this man was just floating by and they picked him up and brought him to shore.

And I just kept saying, but why was he there?

And no answer.

Guy was typical Maine.

That was all there was to the story.

But he did say, he did say, I think my father called him and took him for a drink a couple nights later.

And then I realized, oh, that came back for Kenneth Moynihan to call him.

And I thought, that was helpful.

So I could not get rid of this image of a man floating in the water.

And the fellow who told me just didn't seem interested at all.