1971
Lives of Girls and Women
Alice Munro · 1931–2024 · Canada
Why it matters
Del Jordan narrates her own sexual and intellectual awakening in linked stories set among her mother's stubborn ambitions and a small Ontario town's petty cruelties. Munro's most novel-like book, and her closest approach to a conventional bildungsroman.
At a glance
bildungsromanshort story collection
Difficulty 5/10medium pace250 pagesLinked stories cohere into a novel-length arc but each also functions as its own compressed unit.
Where to go next
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Alice Munro · 2009Too Much HappinessLvl 6Medium pace
Alice Munro · 2012Dear LifeLvl 5Medium pace
Elizabeth Strout · 2008Olive KitteridgeLvl 4Medium pace