Elizabeth Strout

Okay, well, it's a little hard to talk without giving out, so I'm not going to.

But it's about a 57-year-old high school teacher of history, and he's been a wonderful teacher.

He loves his students, and it's really about his time in history because his time in history is changing.

And therefore his life is going to change and his personal life is changing and his professional life is changing.

Well, you know, when the book first starts and he's feeling quite desolate, as I was writing that, I thought, what am I going to do with this?

How am I going to get myself out of this?

And then all of a sudden, well, not all of a sudden, but very slowly, actually, I began to understand, oh, I actually knew what I was doing unconsciously.

I was setting it up for him to feel lonely because his wife has...

withdrawn from him intermittently during that time period.

And his son has withdrawn from him quite a bit during that time period.

And then I realized why.

And I thought, oh, this is why Artie is feeling sad.

And this is what he's going to find out.

Yeah, it was funny because I kept thinking, this isn't such a great way to start a book.

But then I realized, oh, now I know.

Because I found that about sort of halfway through the book, I'd been reading a biography of Carl Jung.

Otherwise, I know nothing about him, but I find his biography to be really interesting.

And I found that quote, and I thought, wait a minute, this is actually exactly what I'm trying to say in this book.

So I think maybe I'll stick it at the beginning.

Because Artie does have friends, and he does.