eBay. It's a place to fall in love with new pre-loved vintage and rare fashion over and over again.

Your favorite designers, expertly authenticated. Yeah, eBay. Things people love. This is The Writer's Voice, new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Debra Treesman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

On this week's episode of The Writer's Voice, we'll hear Yian Lee read her story,

techniques, and idiosyncrasies from the March 17th, 2025 issue of the magazine.

Lee is the author of eight books of fiction, including the novels Must I Go and the Book of Goose,

and the story collection, Wednesday's Child, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2024.

A new non-fiction book, Things in Nature Merely Grow, will be published in May.

Now here's Yi and Lee.

Techniques and idiosyncrasies.

Lillian was the only patient that morning.

This was a change from the crowded waiting room she was used to

in the days before Dr. Fenton began to charge an annual fee.

Concierge medicine sounded like bespoke chocolates

and would not have been Lillian's natural inclination,

and yet she stayed with the clinic. Looking for a new physician would require making calls,

meeting strangers, and filling out medical history forms, and that, even for a healthy 51-year-old, could be complicated.

Lillian might be able to omit the two miscarriages. Not all experiences, thank goodness, left a trace.

But could she also admit the two childbirths, the second by C-section?

Small talk happened in doctors' offices, sometimes about children.

A fee was a manageable price for not having to lie or explain.

Lillian did not mind telling the truth, but truth could be startling

...