by Alice Munro
First published 2009
A young mother loses her three children and finds unexpected relief from her grief. A woman faces humiliation after an unusual seduction and responds with cunning revenge. Children reveal their hidden cruelty while a boy's disfigured face shapes both his fortunes and misfortunes. Sophia Kovalevsky, a Russian mathematician, journeys through Europe in winter, traveling from the Riviera where she visits her lover to Paris, Germany, and Denmark. In Denmark she meets a local doctor who changes her fate before she continues to Sweden, where she teaches at the only European university that employs women mathematicians. These ten stories follow men and women as they navigate loss, betrayal, and the unexpected turns that define their lives. Munro shows how people adapt to difficult circumstances and sometimes rise above them.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, grief
Setting: Europe, Riviera, Paris, Germany, Denmark, Sweden
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
304 pages · Hardcover · Alfred A. Knopf