Alice Munro was born in 1931 in the small Canadian farming town of Wingham, in southwestern Ontario. She spent her entire childhood in Wingham, until she received a scholarship to the University of Western Ontario. While at the university, she met James Munro, and left school before graduating in order to marry him. The Munros raised three daughters and for several years ran a bookshop in Victoria; they eventually divorced. In 1972, Munro returned to Ontario and obtained jobs at universities to support herself while she was writing. During this time, she met Gerald Fremlin, a geographer. They decided to move back to the rural area where they had both grown up and take care of their respective parents. They imagined staying in the area for a year or two; at present, the couple still resides in the rural community.

Munro never intended to be a...