The bulk of "The Progress of Love" takes place during the summer when the narrator is twelve. She's looking back on that summer, on the memories that she has of her mother during that time, because her father has called to say that her mother has died. She, herself, is
Many aspects of "The Moons of Jupiter" recall elements of Rose's life in the connected stories of in Who Do You Think You Are? (The Beggar Maid). In both cases, the narrator is a divorced woman beyond her child-bearing years, with a career in the arts, facing later milestones in her life while
Albert, Grace and Vera are the visitors; Albert is Wilfred's brother, and Wilfred and Mildred are the married hosts. The brothers, Albert and Wilfred, haven't seen each other for thirty years. If circumstances had been different, the story might have been titled "Brothers", but it's titled "Visitors", emphasizing the unfamiliar,
Just how old are they, these women in Alice Munro's stories, these women in "Hard-Luck Stories" in particular. "Over the past couple of years I have experienced moments of disbelief when I meet my friends in public. They look older than I think they should." These stories still feel current
Just when I was thinking that I've been talking a lot about theme and structure with these stories, and not so much about characterization, along comes a story like "Mrs. Cross and Mrs. Kidd" to make the point. "Mrs. Cross and Mrs. Kidd have known each other eighty years, ever
