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Letter from an Unknown Woman is a story about love that can only exist beside an object of affection—love that takes shape around what’s possible, wanting more than what you have while lacking the bravery to live without it. The same month I saw the film for the first time, the critic Molly Haskell…

Looking back I can see that I always knew what I would have done. I once knew that my husband was so completely mine, and so every choice that followed was only another version of that knowing. I would do it all again, which is not the same as saying I will. When I think about everything I can reme…

The morning of our next meeting I carried most of my closet in my arms, watched as a consignment store buyer considered what I was offering. She took everything. I left with three hundred and eighty-nine dollars; the hour with the divorce lawyer would be four hundred dollars. I was relieved, though…

Here’s one part that doesn’t fit in this story. On the way back from the morning after, when that man and I were walking toward my home, I got halfway down a block before realizing I was alone. I turned and he was stopped at a tree blooming with fragile purple and pink flowers. He was trying to get…

And so I had already met this man late one winter afternoon, when I showed him around my home. I could see why everyone liked him. He was calm, quiet, and nice. He looked right at me as I spoke, and I could tell he kept looking even after I looked away. Something about feeling that gaze made me ner…