Author elizabeth strout is at peace with aging | members only access

Author Elizabeth Strout, 68, says that despite what people might think, her debut book was a long time coming. “Everybody said, ‘Oh, what an overnight success,’ ” she says of _Amy and

Isabelle_, which became a best-selling novel when Strout was 42. “Nobody knew I was writing. I stopped telling people years ago because it was too embarrassing — it’s not like I had anything

published — so everyone was surprised by it.” Her third book, _Olive Kitteridge_, won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was adapted into an Emmy Award–winning TV miniseries; and her latest

novel, _Tell Me Everything_, out Sept. 10, introduces Kitteridge to Strout’s beloved characters Lucy Barton and Bob Burgess. Strout shares with AARP the ups and downs of her writing journey,

the advice she’d give to a young writer and how she feels about aging. _This_ _interview_ _has_ _been_ _edited_ _for_ _length_ _and_ _clarity._ You graduated from the Syracuse University

College of Law in 1982. What led you to choose law school? I had a social conscience, and I thought, _OK, I’m going to go and do good work_. It was about that time some restaurant in Boston

had been closed by lawyers for having been prejudiced against Black people. And I thought, _Wow,_ _lawyers_ _can_ _actually_ _get_ _that_ _done._ I was really impressed with that. So I

thought, _I’m_ _going_ _to_ _go_ _to_ _law_ _school,_ _and_ _I’m_ _going_ _to_ _do_ _that_ _kind_ _of_ _work._ _And_ _then_ _I_ _will_ _continue_ _to_ _write_ _at_ _night._ Which, of course,

is pretty ill-advised. That wasn’t a straight path either, was it? I worked in a department store [in Syracuse] after I had dropped out of law school for a year. I wasn’t very good at

it. They sent me up to sell mattresses on the eighth floor. I started on the second floor with women’s stuff, but I didn’t apparently sell well enough, and so they sent me up to mattresses.

I never sold a mattress, so I went back to law school because I realized I was very interested in elderly people. The elderly women that would come into the store and stay in the women’s

lounge the whole day were very, very affecting to me. I realized that they were lonely, that they had no place to go, and I thought, _I’m_ _gonna_ _go_ _back_ _to_ _law_ _school,_ _and_

_I’m_ _going_ _to_ _be_ _an_ _elder_ _lawyer,_ _and_ _I’m_ _gonna_ _have_ _a_ _storefront_ _right_ _here_ _on_ _Main_ _Street,_ _and_ _they_ _can_ _come_ _and_ _stay_ _all_ _day_ _long_ _if_

_they_ _want_ _to._ So that was my plan that got me back to law school to finish. In her latest novel, Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to the lives of her beloved

characters Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge and Bob Burgess. Courtesy Random House What made you pivot to writing? I always wanted to be a writer, but nobody was even remotely interested in my

work. I think I was about 16 [when] I started to send stories out [to publishers]. I could get nothing except the basic rejection notes for years. And so I was a little discouraged, I will

admit. I was working as a waitress and a piano player and just doing millions of jobs. A lot of things I would try and do at night, so that I could have my days free.