Summary

Chapter thirteen picks up where chapter twelve ends, with Eleanor writing in the middle of the night. She is working on the end of her latest novel. Despite the dramatic changes she has made to it since discovering Karl’s renewed infidelity, she is almost finished. She has changed her sleeping schedule so that she primarily writes at night and as a result sleeps next to her husband for only a few hours each night.

Eleanor has decided she will finish her novel that night. She takes a quick break to stretch, trying to alleviate the excruciating pain in her back, which has been building for a long time. At some point, Karl enters her office to complain that the typing is too loud. Eleanor refuses to stop, telling him that her writing is their only source of income. An hour later, she finishes...