Alice Munro

Collection of nine short stories. The fate of a strong-minded housekeeper just entering the dangerous country of old-maidhood is unintentionally (and deliciously) reversed by a teenaged girl's practical joke. An inveterate philanderer finds the tables turned when he puts his wife into an old-age home. Men and women are subtly revealed. Personal histories unfold in rich detail of circumstances and feeling.

In the powerful, haunting stories of Munro's new collection, men and women, in the midst of contemporary quandaries and crises, recall the long-buried yearnings, dreams, and hard choices that have given shape to their lives. [Friend of My Youth is] a wonderful collection of stories, beautifully written and deeply felt. It is difficult to do justice to Munro's magical way with characterization or to her unerring control of her own resources, she...

A collection of short fiction captures the lives of women of all ages and circumstances, as they deal with the limits and lies of passion, unfulfilled dreams, motherhood, betrayal, and the bonds of love. The runaway of the title story is a young woman who, though she thinks she wants to, is incapable of leaving her husband. In “Passion,” a country girl emerging into the larger world via a job in a resort hotel discovers in a single moment of stunning...

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • Twenty-eight “heart-stopping [and] utterly beautiful” (Newsday) stories that locate moments of love and betrayal, desire and forgiveness, from Nobel Prize–winning author Alice Munro

“Her stories are like few others. One must go back to Tolstoy and Chekhov . . . for comparable largeness.”—John Updike, The New York Times Book...

In eight “riveting [and] lovely” (San Francisco Chronicle) stories, Nobel Prize–winning author Alice Munro stunningly explores the strange, often comical desires of the human heart.
 
“Superb . . . dazzling . . . Munro’s feel for her own characters is as pure as Chekhov’s.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“Munro is...

Eleven stunning stories that explore the most intimate and transforming moments of existence, from Nobel Prize–winning author Alice Munro, “one of the foremost practitioners of the short story” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times).

“Throughout this remarkable collection moments of insight flash from the pages like lightning, not necessarily providing answers—more like showing the way...

In stories that are more personal than any that she has written before, Alice Munro pieces her family history into gloriously imagined fiction.
A young boy is taken to Edinburgh Castle Rock, where his father assures him that on a clear day he can see America, and he catches a glimpse of his father's dream. In stories that follow, as the dream becomes a reality, two sisters-in-law experience very different kinds of passion on the long voyage to...

Fiona and Grant are an Ontario couple who have been married for over 40 years. During the twilight of their years, Grant is forced to face the fact that Fiona's 'forgetfulness' actually is Alzheimer's. After Fiona wanders away and is found, the decision is made for her to go into a nursing home. For the first time in their relationship, they are forced to undergo a separation since this is the nursing home 'no-vistors,' first 30 days policy of a patient's...

Presents twenty of the best works of short fiction of the past year from a variety of acclaimed sources.