Runaway

Runaway

by Alice Munro

Vintage, $116

The admonition not to judge a book by its cover might have been coined in response to the clothing of Alice Munro's latest collection of short stories: it comes in a jacket suggesting thwarted teen love among sun-kissed daisies. Munro has made a gong-laden career out of mining a narrow seam of issues related to the fundamental idea of being female and how it translates within relationships. Which is not surprising, given her trenchant observations. Runaway often concerns itself with feminism and its results, and typical of Munro's focus are the stories about Juliet. The heroine appears in three as, respectively, a student, a mother and a woman in her 50s, her position in society changing with each tale of moral dilemma, professional success or familial isolation. At other times the probing is more intimate, and deftly shows how possible futures can hinge on a glance, a kiss or an apparent case of mistaken identity. When they do, heartbreak and confusion are often around the corner.