Philip Vance

Molly Truran Philip Vance

Molly Truran's first book was a best seller. It was a spiritual musing she called . . .'The Greater Family'. "We are all connected," she wrote, "We are all the same person." And the book resonated within American popular culture. . . so deeply that Molly soon appeared on talk shows; she hosted live chats on the Internet; and weekly magazine covers regularly framed her face. She was a star. And she was eleven years old.

In the summer of Molly's first success, Will Needham moved into the seaside cottage next to Molly's grand house on the Westchester side of Long Island Sound. He became popular in the neighborhood, especially with Molly's family, but particularly with Molly, herself. Will put it best, saying, "This, then, is Molly's story, or at least a part of her story. Events have been missed, make no mistake. I was, after all, not an omnipresence. I could not have been everywhere, and I wasn't. I simply lived next door. So gaps there must inevitably be and gaps there certainly are. As for my part, I can only describe what I have seen. I can only speak to what I've heard. And while it is true that this little girl's story is here filtered through my eyes, I will recount our experiences of that memorable summer, as I believe they happened . . . Letting Time, God, and the haggard others have their say in the end."