Open a book this minute and start reading. Don’t move until you’ve reached page fifty. Until you’ve buried your thoughts in print. Cover yourself with words. Wash yourself away. Dissolve. Carol Shields Republic of Love

Alice Munro “Wild Swans”

“Flo said to watch out for White Slavers.” The opening line.

There’s Flo with her tales of abuse and mistreatment, with the litany of threats, near and far, posed to women and girls.

She also warns Rose about the retired undertaker, with his also-retired hearse, about the the way that he trawls the countryside, “looking for [...]