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.”