Summary

The lover lived a mile from the narrator, in a small room behind "a row of garages" (48). He owned very little. He had books, which the narrator later learned were not his. Over the course of their affair, the narrator rarely visited his room. Even after he moved closer to her, she still did not visit him at his home. She "preferred to see him in [her] own house" (49).

When she first "started working on the novel," the narrator adhered to facts (50). Over time, she decided she did not have to rely on the truth, but could not decide what to put in its place.

The more she writes, the less she understands how to write it. Several times she considered giving up. She has tried many ways of telling the story. Writing the novel also feels like a test (52).

The affair was...