Wally Lamb

I Know This Much Is True

Born into a close-knit, working-class Catholic family in Connecticut in 1950, Wally Lamb first developed a love of storytelling from hearing stories at family gatherings. When he was a boy, he wrote and illustrated his own comic books, but the urge to write seriously didn’t strike him until he was thirty-two and was inspired by the birth of his son. Realizing the complexity of the task, he applied to a graduate writing program at Vermont College. There he met his mentor, Gladys Swann, whose advice prompted Lamb’s deep exploration of Joseph Campbell’s writings on mythology. After graduating, Lamb returned to his hometown and taught English at his old high school.

From I Know This Much Is True:

“When you’re the sane brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your hands—the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you’re into both survival of the fittest and being your brother’s keeper—if you’ve promised your dying mother—then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night.”

Published in 1992, his first novel, She’s Come Undone, is set in a fictional Connecticut town and stars an extremely obese but resilient and determined forty-year-old heroine. It became a phenomenon five years later, when selected for Oprah’s Book Club (as was his later novel, I Know This Much Is True).

In addition to writing his popular and award-winning fiction, Lamb—the father of three boys—teaches at a women’s prison.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:

She’s Come Undone. In this novel, Dolores Price is thirteen, wise-mouthed, and wounded. She watches TV, over-eats, and finally enters young womanhood at 257 pounds. Can she get her life back on track?

Manhattan

In I Know This Much Is True, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower had a photo taken with four-year-old twins Dominick and Thomas and then ordered a Manhattan.

3/4 oz. sweet vermouth

2½ oz. bourbon

1 dash Angostura bitters

1 maraschino cherry

1 orange peel

Rub the cut edge of the orange peel over the glass rim. Combine vermouth, bourbon whiskey, and bitters with ice in a mixing glass. Stir gently, don’t bruise the spirits and cloud the drink. Place cherry in a chilled cocktail glass and strain the mixture over it. Serves 1.