by Alice Munro
First published 2008
Louisa carries the memory of a wartime love affair that shattered when peace returned and ordinary life resumed its quiet patterns. Years later, this buried dream suddenly resurfaces with startling intensity at the most unexpected moment. Meanwhile, Gail adopts a completely new identity to investigate what destroyed a relationship she believed was deeply rooted. During a college outing, one of the female students vanishes without explanation. She never returns, but someone eventually solves the mystery behind her disappearance. These eight stories follow women caught at the turning points of their lives. Forgotten events, chance encounters, and waking dreams tear open their familiar horizons, leading them into distant and often overlooked territories. Deep emotions buried within each character find underground pathways through the maze of human relationships, finally breaking into consciousness as sudden flashes of understanding.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Period: Wartime, Years Later
282 pages · Paperback · Einaudi
Content warnings: war