Who Do You Think You Are?: A BBC Between the Covers Big Jubilee Read Pick

2021 sees all of Alice Munro’s backlist reissued in a new, modern look. These editions will appeal to a broad range of literary readers

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

Previously published as ‘The Beggar Maid’

Born into the back streets of a small Canadian town, Rose battled incessantly with her practical and shrewd stepmother, Flo, who cowed her with tales of her own past and warnings of the dangerous world outside. But Rose was ambitious - she won a scholarship and left for Toronto where she married Patrick. She was his Beggar Maid, ‘meek and voluptuous, with her shy white feet’, and he was her knight, content to sit and adore her.

Alice Munro’s wonderful collection of stories reads like a novel, following Rose’s life as she moves away from her impoverished roots and forges her own path in the world.