The Hour I First Believed

Written by Wally Lamb

It’s been 10 years since the author of I Know This Much Is True and She’s Come Undone—has written a book, but Wally Lamb still retains the magic of storytelling in his third novel, The Hour I First Believed. To make up for lost time, the novel is presented in over 700 worthwhile pages, delving into major turn-of-the-century events and topics.

The story follows Caelum Quirk and third his wife, Maureen, a couple that moved to Littleton, Colorado. The Quirks both landed jobs at Columbine High School—Caelum as an English teacher and Maureen as the school nurse. In April 1999, while Caelum has left to tend to his dying aunt in Connecticut, Maureen finds herself trapped in the school library, hiding from the bullets of two vengeful students.

This event happens near the beginning of the novel. The rest of the story continues with two people left to deal with Maureen’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Xanax addiction and eventual murder trial. Caelum wrestles his own demons with a troubling childhood past and startling revelation about his parents. The reader will turn the pages, asking if anything will worse.

When all is said and done, however, there is a sort of hope echoed throughout the novel, mostly through redemptive moments and small truths. Through his characters, Lamb portrays the range of the unglamorous, yet beautifully genuine human experience.