Hillbilly Elegy

mother, but they didn’t want their
daughter in jail, either. The lawyer never
explicitly encouraged dishonesty, but he
did make it clear that what I said would
either increase or decrease the odds that
Mom spent additional time in prison.
“You don’t want your mom to go to jail,
do you?” he asked. So I lied, with the
express understanding that even though
Mom would have her liberty, I could
live with my grandparents whenever I
wished. Mom would officially retain
custody, but from that day forward I
lived in her house only when I chose to
—and Mamaw told me that if Mom had
a problem with the arrangement, she
could talk to the barrel of Mamaw’s gun.