For thirty years now, Alice Munro has been called the best author of short stories in the world, but her books are only coming to Russian readers now, after the writer received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Criticism constantly compares Munro to Chekhov, and this comparison is not without reason: like the Russian writer, she knows how to tell a story in such a way that readers, even those belonging to a completely different culture, recognize themselves in the characters. These nine stories, presented in seemingly simple language, reveal amazing plot abysses. In just twenty pages, Munro manages to create a whole world - alive, tangible and incredibly attractive. The stories included in the book served as the basis for two films: “Away from Her” (2006; directed by Sarah Polley, starring Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie ) and “From Hate to Love” (2013; dir. Lisa Johnson, starring Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte).