"I come of straightened people, madly secretive, tenacious, economical." The first segment of the story introduces the reader to the narrator of "Bardon Bus" in a way which recalls other heroines in other stories. "Like them, I could make a little go a long way." (If you've recently read Who
"Frances is loitering by a second-floor window of the high school in Hanratty, on an afternoon in early December. It is 1943." Loitering: it's a significant word. There is something unsanctioned about her presence there. And, yet, she is a high-school teacher. But she has no business being on the
Whether it's Alva's job in a summer resort in "Sunday Afternoon" or Edie looking after the kids and doing what needs doing in "How I Met My Husband", Alice Munro captures the twinned knowingness and vulnerability of a girl in her first job. Few other authors (Alissa York would be
It was impulsive: about a week from the end of June, I decided that I was tired of seeing the same old books on my stack, and something had to be done. Oh, poor things. It wasn't their fault. "It's not you, it's me." I said. But I realized, even
A dozen years ago, Olive Senior's Gardening in the Tropics was on my list of favourite books for that reading year. Insomniac Press, 2007 Afterwards, I read some short stories (Discerner of Hearts is wonderful), but I lost track of her work, and hadn't even realized the extent of it
