For thirty years, Alice Munro has been called the best writer of short stories in the world, but her books come to the Russian reader only now, after the writer received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Criticism constantly compares Munro with Chekhov, and this comparison is not without reason: like a Russian writer, she is able to tell a story so that readers, even belonging to a completely different culture, recognize themselves in the heroes. So these nine stories, presented at first glance in a simple language, reveal amazing plot abysses. In just twenty pages, Munroe manages to create a whole world — alive, tangible and incredibly attractive. The stories included in the book served as the basis of two films: "Far From Her" (2006; dir. Sarah Polley, starring Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie) and "From Hate to Love" (2013; dir. Lisa Johnson, starring Kristen Wig, Guy Pierce, Jennifer Jason Lee, Nick Nolte).