Alice Munro - Alice Munro's Best

“I’m happy to see you,” she said, and pulled his earlobes.

“You could have just driven away,” she said. “Just driven away without a care in the world and forsook me. Forsooken me. Forsaken.”

He kept his face against her white hair, her pink scalp, her sweetly shaped skull. He said, Not a chance.

Copyright © 2006 by Alice Munro

Introduction copyright © 2006 by Margaret Atwood

First published in the U.S. in the Everyman’s Library by Alfred A. Knopf, 2006

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher — or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency — is an infringement of the copyright law.

The stories in this collection originally appeared in the following works published by

Alfred A. Knopf:

The Beggar Maid , copyright © 1977, 1978 by Alice Munro

The Moons of Jupiter , copyright © 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 by Alice Munro

The Progress of Love , copyright © 1985, 1986 by Alice Munro

Friend of My Youth , copyright © 1990 by Alice Munro

Open Secrets , copyright © 1994 by Alice Munro

The Love of a Good Woman , copyright © 1998 by Alice Munro

Hateship, Friendship, Loveship, Courtship, Marriage , copyright © 2001 by Alice Munro

Runaway , copyright © 2004 by Alice Munro

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Munro, Alice, 1931–

Alice Munro’s best : a selection of stories.

eISBN: 978-1-55199-393-5

I. Title.

PS8576.U57A6 2008 C813′.54 C2008-900944-4

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and that of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative. We further acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program.

This book was produced using ancient-forest friendly papers.

McClelland & Stewart Ltd.

75 Sherbourne Street

Toronto, Ontario

M5A 2P9

www.mcclelland.com

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