Excerpt from I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Come in, come in," I said. She was wearing a down vest, sweatshirt, denim skirt, sneakers--clothes I never would have predicted. She carried a bulging briefcase.

"So it's finished?"

"What?" Her eyes followed mine to the briefcase. "Oh, no," she said. "This is my doctoral thesis. The apartment house where I live was broken into last week, so I'm carrying this wherever I go. But I'm working on your project. It's coming along." She asked me nothing about my mother's condition.

"How did you know where I live?" I asked.

"Why? Is it a deep, dark secret or something?"

"No, I just--"

"From your check. I copied your address down before I cashed it. In case I had to get ahold of you. Then I was just out for a drive--I've been so stressed out lately--and I just happened to pass by your street sign and I remembered it. Hillyndale Drive. It's such an unusual spelling. Was someone trying to be quaint or something? Faux British?"

I shrugged, jingled the change in my pockets. "Couldn't tell you," I said.

© June 1998 , Wally Lamb. Used by permission.