My Best Friend's Exorcism

by Grady Hendrix

Don’t You Forget about Me

This book is deeply personal for me, and that’s why it has a happy ending. Abby and Gretchen are people I know, they grew up where I grew up, they go to the school I attended, they drive over the same bridge every day that I drove over every morning, they have the same friends, the same habits, everything. But they’re also bigger than me, with lives of their own. There are two other drafts of this book that are radically different, and one of them follows them into their later years, moving between the present and the past, and I got to see them live through all their ups and downs over the decades, all the way to the end of their lives. So just for the record, they both turn out okay. I couldn’t have it any other way. I like them too much to cheat them of their happiness.