Alice Munro: Open Secrets

Bad-bad-bad .

“The loveliest thing,” Bea said. “Liza, tell me — was this your mother’s?”

Liza said yes. She could see now that this gift of a single earring might be seen as childish and pathetic — perhaps intentionally pathetic. Even keeping it as a treasure could seem stupid. But if it was her mother’s, that would be understandable, and it would be a gift of some importance. “You could put it on a chain,” she said. “If you put it on a chain you could wear it around your neck.”

“But I was just thinking that!” Bea said. “I was just thinking it would look lovely on a chain. A silver chain — don’t you think? Oh, Liza, I am just so proud you gave it to me!”

“You could wear it in your nose,” said Ladner. But he said this without any sharpness. He was peaceable now — played out, peaceable. He spoke of Bea’s nose as if it might be a pleasant thing to contemplate.

Ladner and Bea were sitting under the plum trees right behind the house. They sat in the wicker chairs that Bea had brought out from town. She had not brought much — just enough to make islands here and there among Ladner’s skins and instruments. These chairs, some cups, a cushion. The wineglasses they were drinking out of now.

Bea had changed into a dark-blue dress of very thin and soft material. It hung long and loose from her shoulders. She trickled the rhinestones through her fingers, she let them fall and twinkle in the folds of her blue dress. She had forgiven Ladner, after all, or made a bargain not to remember.

Bea could spread safety, if she wanted to. Surely she could. All that is needed is for her to turn herself into a different sort of woman, a hard-and-fast, draw-the-line sort, clean-sweeping, energetic, and intolerant. None of that. Not allowed. Be good . The woman who could rescue them — who could make them all, keep them all, good.

What Bea has been sent to do, she doesn’t see.

Only Liza sees.

Liza locked the door as you had to, from the outside. She put the key in the plastic bag and the bag in the hole in the tree. She moved towards the snowmobile, and when Warren didn’t do the same she said, “What’s the matter with you?”

Warren said, “What about the window by the back door?”

Liza breathed out noisily. “Ooh, I’m an idiot!” she said. “I’m an idiot ten times over!”

Warren went back to the window and kicked at the bottom pane. Then he got a stick of firewood from the pile by the tin shed and was able to smash the glass out. “Big enough so a kid could get in,” he said.

“How could I be so stupid?” Liza said. “You saved my life.”

“Our life,” Warren said.

The tin shed wasn’t locked. Inside it he found some cardboard boxes, bits of lumber, simple tools. He tore off a piece of cardboard of a suitable size. He took great satisfaction in nailing it over the pane that he had just smashed out. “Otherwise animals could get in,” he said to Liza.

When he was all finished with this job, he found that Liza had walked down into the snow between the trees. He went after her.

“I was wondering if the bear was still in there,” she said.

He was going to say that he didn’t think bears came this far south, but she didn’t give him the time. “Can you tell what the trees are by their bark?” she said.

Warren said he couldn’t even tell from their leaves. “Well, maples,” he said. “Maples and pines.”

“Cedar,” said Liza. “You’ve got to know cedar. There’s a cedar. There’s a wild cherry. Down there’s birch. The white ones. And that one with the bark like gray skin? That’s a beech. See, it had letters carved on it, but they’ve spread out, they just look like any old blotches now.”

Warren wasn’t interested. He only wanted to get home. It wasn’t much after three o’clock, but you could feel the darkness collecting, rising among the trees, like cold smoke coming off the snow.

“I want to list every story in this collection as my favourite … Ms. Munro is a writer of extraordinary richness and texture.” Bharati Mukherjee, The New York Times

THE PROGRESS OF LOVE by Alice Munro

“Probably the best collection of stories — the most confident and, at the same time, the most adventurous — ever written by a Canadian.” Saturday Night

ACROSS THE BRIDGE: Stories by Mavis Gallant

These eleven stories, set mostly in Montreal or in Paris, were described as “Vintage Gallant — urbane, witty, absorbing.” Winnipeg Free Press “We come away from it both thoughtful and enriched.” Globe and Mail

THE CUNNING MAN: A novel by Robertson Davies

Like Fifth Business this rich and entertaining novel takes us through one man’s account of his life — and Dr. Jonathan Hullah, a wise old doctor who knows many secrets, has much to tell.

MURTHER & WALKING SPIRITS: A novel by Robertson Davies

“Brilliant” was the Ottawa Citizen ’s description of this sweeping tale of a Canadian family through the generations. “It will recruit huge numbers of new readers to the Davies fan club.” Observer (London)

THE BLACK BONSPIEL OF WILLIE MACCRIMMON by W.O. Mitchell illustrated by Wesley W. Bates

A devil of a good tale about curling — W.O. Mitchell’s most successful comic play now appears as a story, fully illustrated, for the first time, and it is “a true Canadian classic.” Western Report

ACCORDING TO JAKE AND THE KID: A Collection of New Stories by W.O. Mitchell

“This one’s classic Mitchell. Humorous, gentle, wistful, it’s 16 new short stories about life through the eyes of Jake, a farmhand, and the kid, whose mom owns the farm.” Saskatoon Star-Phoenix

WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND by W.O. Mitchell illustrated by William Kurelek

For the first time since 1947, this well-loved Canadian classic of childhood on the prairies is presented in its full, unexpurgated edition, and is “gorgeously illustrated.” Calgary Herald

HUGH MACLENNAN’S BEST: An anthology selected by Douglas Gibson

This selection from all of the works of the witty essayist and famous novelist is “wonderful … It’s refreshing to discover again MacLennan’s formative influence on our national character.” Edmonton Journal

OVER FORTY IN BROKEN HILL: Unusual Encounters in the Australian Outback by Jack Hodgins

“Australia described with wit, wonder and affection by a bemused visitor with Canadian sensibilities.” Canadian Press “Damned fine writing” Books in Canada

A PASSION FOR NARRATIVE: A Guide for Writing Fiction by Jack Hodgins

“One excellent path from original to marketable manuscript.… It would take a beginning writer years to work her way through all the goodies Hodgins offers,” Globe and Mail

AT THE COTTAGE: A Fearless Look at Canada’s Summer Obsession by Charles Gordon illustrated by Graham Pilsworth This perennial best-selling book of gentle humour is “a delightful reminder of why none of us addicted to cottage life will ever give it up.” Hamilton Spectator

HOW TO BE NOT TOO BAD: A Canadian Guide to Superior Behaviour by Charles Gordon illustrated by Graham Pilsworth This “very fine and funny book” Ottawa Citizen “updates the etiquette menu, making mincemeat of Miss Manners.” Toronto Star

NEXT-YEAR COUNTRY: Voices of Prairie People by Barry Broadfoot

“There’s something mesmerizing about these authentic Canadian voices.” Globe and Mail