Fiction

illustration of two hands holding a copy of the book The Let Them Theory
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Stefanie Keenan / Getty.

Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From?

Years before Mel Robbins published her best-selling self-help book, a struggling writer posted a poem with a similar message.

Courier

He was tired, he said, of feeling sorry for both of them. Then don’t come back, she said

Release

He’d been warned to be cautious, but after years of prison he intended to enjoy his freedom fully

The Pink House

He did not want a swimming pool, or walk-in closets. He wasn’t sure he wanted to buy a house in the first place. His wife and son, however, hoped to show him the way

Ichthyology

He gazed into the eyes of the orangestriped fish and for a moment felt as if he, too, were floating, rocking, oddly out of place

Yellow Flags

Conrad’s father had come to visit after an absence of several years, and now sought a way to get close to his son