Evelyn read the letter twice. Then she folded it and put it in a drawer. She did not answer right away. Months later, she sent a postcard printed with The House Opened Its Mouth and She Walked Out. On the back she wrote: I believe you are sorry.

I hope you become someone who never needs another person to disappear so you can feel visible. She signed only her first name.

Years later, interviewers still tried to make Daniel the center of Evelyn’s story. They asked whether pain had created her talent. She always corrected them.

“Pain did not give me talent,” she said. “Pain delayed the moment I allowed myself to trust it.”

They asked whether the $48 million sale had changed her life. “It changed my circumstances.”

“What changed your life?”