Elizabeth Strout

Because like I said, when I was starting that story, I thought, what am I doing?

How in the world am I going to get myself out of this situation?

And then I realized that I had actually been laying little

clues to myself about what was going to happen that I had unconsciously not known.

Well, obviously it's unconscious if you don't know it, but you know what I mean.

Yes, I love telling a story.

Right.

But the character will let me know what the story is.

Exactly.

And that's truly happening.

And, you know, with Amy and Isabel, my first published book, I realized at that time, I learned so much writing that, and I realized that literature is about place and time in history.

And then I realized all my books are about a place, mostly usually Maine, but not with this one.

And the time in history.

So Lucy by the Sea was during the pandemic because that was her time in history.

And this is Artie's time in history.

And it is almost, well, not quite anymore, but almost the contemporary time of the election.

And I had to write it because...

Because that was his story, you see.

So we have his interior life going on with all these things that he has to deal with.

And then we have the exterior life coming in and the moment, the principle.