"One of the most esteemed writers in the world... Few writers capture the moral ambiguities, murkiness, messiness - and joy - of relationships with as much empathy and grace as Munro... An outstanding showcase for Munro's scrupulous, humane, unnervingly perceptive vision" Guardian "Her work is practically perfect. Any writer has to gawk when reading her because her work is very subtle and precise" -- Jane Smiley "The best short story writer alive... Munro can pack more into one of her stories - more subtlety, more grace, more tender twists of the human heart - than many novelists do in a lifetime's oeuvre" Independent "One of the world's best living short-story writers... To say that she has made the short story her own and reinvigorated it somehow falls short - she has reinvented it" Observer "Alice Munro! Now that's writing" -- Margaret Atwood