Alice Munro Books in Order
Explore all Alice Munro books and story collections in order, with short summaries, background on her work, film tie ins, and guidance on where to start reading.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).
Alice Munro books in publication order
29 books
Dance of the Happy Shades
by Alice Munro
1968
Munro's debut collection offers fifteen vivid stories set in rural and small town Ontario, where girls and young women test the limits of family, class, and propriety, finding moments of quiet rebellion and startling grace inside everyday lives.
Lives of Girls and Women
by Alice Munro
1971
Set in the small town of Jubilee, this linked coming of age novel follows Del Jordan from childhood on the flats road to restless adolescence, tracing her fraught bond with her mother and her awakening to sex, ambition, and writing.
Recommended by
1 person
Cheryl Strayed recommended this bookCheryl Strayed
"My favorite book." - Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayed's recommendation of this book
Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You
by Alice Munro
1974
Thirteen stories probe the tangled loyalties of sisters, mothers and daughters, and lifelong friends as ordinary quarrels and long held secrets push women in small Canadian communities to reconsider love, forgiveness, and the stories they live by.
The Beggar Maid
by Alice Munro
1977
This story cycle follows Rose, a girl from the poor side of Hanratty, as a scholarship lifts her into university, a difficult marriage to a rich husband, and a series of uneasy reinventions that never quite shake off class shame or longing.
Who Do You Think You Are?
by Alice Munro
1977
Told in linked stories, this book traces Rose's life from a raw childhood in a boardinghouse town through adolescence, escape to the city, and complicated adult relationships, asking how far anyone can outrun the place that first named them.
The Moons of Jupiter
by Alice Munro
1983
The Moons of Jupiter gathers stories about daughters and aging parents, lovers and ex spouses, and people measuring themselves against earlier selves, capturing the small decisions and shifting memories that quietly alter the orbits of family life.
The Progress of Love
by Alice Munro
1985
In eleven nuanced stories, Munro charts the uneasy progress of love in families and marriages, as remembered scenes from childhood and youth collide with later revelations, exposing how affection, resentment, and obligation knot together over time.
Friend of My Youth
by Alice Munro
1990
Set largely in rural and small town Canada, these ten stories circle back to youthful friendships, stern religious communities, and complicated mothers, as narrators confront how memory softens some edges and leaves others painfully sharp.
Open Secrets
by Alice Munro
1994
Ranging from Ontario to the Balkans and Australia, the eight stories in Open Secrets follow women whose lives are shaped by disappearance, captivity, rekindled love, and random violence, showing how the past remains an open, unsettling presence.
Selected Stories
by Alice Munro
1996
This substantial retrospective collects twenty eight key stories from Munro's first seven books, letting readers watch her small town settings, intricate relationships, and inventive structures deepen across more than twenty five years of work.
The Love of a Good Woman
by Alice Munro
1998
Eight long stories explore the blurred line between care and harm, as nurses, daughters, and wives confront hidden crimes, old affairs, and risky chances at happiness, discovering that devotion can be as dangerous as betrayal.
Queenie
by Alice Munro
1999
Narrated by her adoring younger stepsister, this story follows Queenie, a charming young woman who marries an older musician and drifts away from home, returning years later in a way that forces everyone to rethink loyalty, abuse, and escape.
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
by Alice Munro
2001
These stories trace unexpected bonds and betrayals, from a plain housekeeper drawn into a forged romance to an aging husband watching his wife slip into dementia, revealing how cruelty, chance, and stubborn care can still open paths to change.
Recommended by
1 person
Sam Altman recommended this bookSam Altman
"Really good." - Sam Altman
Sam Altman's recommendation of this book
No Love Lost
by Alice Munro
2003
This themed selection brings together ten of Munro's stories about love gone wrong, from unhappy marriages and betrayals to late life affairs, highlighting how desire can leave characters stranded between longing, resentment, and hard won acceptance.
Runaway
by Alice Munro
2004
In eight linked and stand alone stories, Runaway follows women poised between staying and fleeing, from a young wife unable to leave an abusive husband to Juliet, a classics teacher whose choices echo through decades of love, motherhood, and loss.
Recommended by
1 person
Hillary Clinton recommended this bookHillary Clinton
"[One of] my favorite short stories [collections]." - Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton's recommendation of this book
Vintage Munro
by Alice Munro
2004
A compact sampler, Vintage Munro features six standout stories drawn from across her career, including titles from The Moons of Jupiter, The Progress of Love, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, and Dear Life.
Carried Away
by Alice Munro
2006
This generous anthology gathers seventeen of Alice Munro's strongest stories from earlier collections, offering a panoramic introduction to her world of small towns, fraught marriages, buried secrets, and the surprising turns ordinary lives can take.
Recommended by
1 person
Hillary Clinton recommended this bookHillary Clinton
"[One of] my favorite short stories [collections]." - Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton's recommendation of this book
View From Castle Rock
by Alice Munro
2006
Blending family history and fiction, this collection moves from the Laidlaw ancestors' harsh life in eighteenth century Scotland to stories drawn from Munro's own childhood in Ontario, tracing how migration, work, and memory shape several generations.
Away from Her
by Alice Munro
2007
Centred on the story 'The Bear Came Over the Mountain', this volume follows Grant, a retired professor whose wife enters a care home with dementia and seems to forget him, forcing him to face his past infidelities and the meaning of loyalty.
The Best American Short Stories 2007
by Stephen King, Louis Auchincloss, John Barth, Ann Beattie, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Randy DeVita, Joseph Epstein, William Gay, Mary Catherine Gordon, Lauren Groff, Beverly Jensen, Roy Kesey, Stellar Kim, Aryn Kyle, Bruce McAllister, Alice Munro, Eileen Pollack, Karen Russell, Richard Russo, Jim Shepard & Kate Walbert
2007
Guest editor Stephen King and series editor Heidi Pitlor select twenty short stories first published in U.S. and Canadian magazines. The annual anthology includes Richard Russo’s “Horseman” alongside work by Alice Munro, Lauren Groff, Karen Russell, and others.
My Best Stories
by Alice Munro
2009
Chosen and arranged by Munro herself, this anthology of seventeen stories runs from 'Royal Beatings' to 'The Bear Came Over the Mountain', offering a personal map of the obsessions, places, and characters she kept returning to.
Too Much Happiness
by Alice Munro
2009
Ten later stories push into darker territory, from grieving parents and dangerous children to the life of mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya, asking how ordinary people live with violence, guilt, and brief, sometimes unsettling flashes of joy.
New Selected Stories
by Alice Munro
2011
Spanning work from the mid 1990s through Too Much Happiness, this selection gathers some of Munro's strongest later stories, many about women looking back over complicated lives and recognizing how small choices carried lasting consequences.
Dear Life
by Alice Munro
2012
Munro's final collection pairs ten intricate stories of chance encounters, betrayals, and second thoughts with four unusually direct pieces about her own childhood, creating a quiet, powerful meditation on how we remember and remake our past.
Family Furnishings
by Alice Munro
2014
Collecting twenty four stories from 1995 to 2014, Family Furnishings focuses on shifting family roles, aging, and the stubborn pull of home, from youthful passions and artistic beginnings to the long work of making peace with one's past.
Lying Under the Apple Tree
by Alice Munro
2014
Drawn from five recent collections, this volume showcases fifteen stories set mostly in small town Ontario, where affairs, estrangements, and chance meetings reveal how a whole life can pivot on a single impulsive act or half remembered moment.
A Wilderness Station
by Alice Munro
2015
First published as Selected Stories, this large volume gathers twenty eight pieces from Munro's early and middle period, where traveling salesmen, factory workers, frontier wives, and restless daughters all see their lives changed by one decisive event.
The Office
by Alice Munro
2015
This early autobiographical story follows a young writer who rents a small downtown office so she can finally work in peace, only to discover how hard it is to claim time, space, and authority for her own imagination.
Julieta
by Alice Munro
2016
Gathering the linked stories 'Chance', 'Soon', and 'Silence', this volume follows classics teacher Juliet Henderson over many years, from a fateful meeting on a train to uneasy visits with her parents and a painful rift with her only daughter.
Where to start with Alice Munro
If you want a single, novel length starting point: Lives of Girls and Women
If you want her early small town Ontario stories: Dance of the Happy Shades → The Moons of Jupiter → The Progress of Love
If you want later, darker collections: Open Secrets → The Love of a Good Woman → Runaway → Too Much Happiness
If you prefer curated greatest hits: Selected Stories → A Wilderness Station → Family Furnishings
If you are curious about film tie ins: Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage → Away from Her → Julieta
Alice Munro collections, short stories, and related book types
Short Stories/Novellas
Short Story Collections

Dance of the Happy Shades
by Alice Munro
1968
Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You
by Alice Munro
197413 Stories
The Beggar Maid
by Alice Munro
1977Stories of Flo and Rose
Who Do You Think You Are?
by Alice Munro
1977
The Moons of Jupiter
by Alice Munro
1983
The Progress of Love
by Alice Munro
1985
Friend of My Youth
by Alice Munro
1990
Open Secrets
by Alice Munro
1994Stories
Selected Stories
by Alice Munro
19961968-1994
The Love of a Good Woman
by Alice Munro
1998
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
by Alice Munro
2001Stories
No Love Lost
by Alice Munro
2003
Vintage Munro
by Alice Munro
2004
Runaway
by Alice Munro
2004
Carried Away
by Alice Munro
2006A Selection of Stories
View From Castle Rock
by Alice Munro
2006
Too Much Happiness
by Alice Munro
2009
My Best Stories
by Alice Munro
2009
New Selected Stories
by Alice Munro
2011
Lying Under the Apple Tree
by Alice Munro
2014
Family Furnishings
by Alice Munro
2014Selected Stories, 1995-2014
A Wilderness Station
by Alice Munro
2015Selected Stories, 1968-1994
Julieta
by Alice Munro
2016Three Stories That Inspired the Movie
Standalone Alice Munro books

Lives of Girls and Women
by Alice Munro
1971
The Best American Short Stories 2007
by Stephen King, Louis Auchincloss, John Barth, Ann Beattie, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Randy DeVita, Joseph Epstein, William Gay, Mary Catherine Gordon, Lauren Groff, Beverly Jensen, Roy Kesey, Stellar Kim, Aryn Kyle, Bruce McAllister, Alice Munro, Eileen Pollack, Karen Russell, Richard Russo, Jim Shepard & Kate Walbert
2007
Dear Life
by Alice Munro
2012Stories
Author bio
Alice Munro was born Alice Ann Laidlaw on July 10, 1931, in the farming town of Wingham, Ontario. She grew up in a world of fox and mink farms, gravel roads, and small churches, landscapes that would anchor her fiction for decades.
Her father raised fur animals and later worked in a foundry, while her mother taught school and gradually fell ill with Parkinson's disease. Munro watched adults struggle with money, pride, and illness, and she began turning those tensions into stories while she was still a girl.
By her late teens she had decided, very quietly, that she wanted to be a writer.
Munro studied English and journalism at the University of Western Ontario, working part time as a library clerk and doing odd jobs during the summers. In 1950 she published her first story, "The Dimensions of a Shadow". She left university a year later to marry fellow student James Munro, and the couple moved west to Vancouver and then to Victoria.
They opened Munro's Books in downtown Victoria and raised three daughters. Munro wrote in the margins of the day, fitting drafts between childcare, housework, and the long hours of running a shop. Stories began to appear in magazines, and in 1968 her first collection, Dance of the Happy Shades, won Canada's Governor General's Award and announced a major new voice.
Over the next several decades she committed herself almost entirely to the short story. Books like Lives of Girls and Women, Who Do You Think You Are? or The Beggar Maid, The Moons of Jupiter, The Progress of Love, Open Secrets, The Love of a Good Woman and Runaway showed how much depth could be packed into a few dozen pages. Her work often jumps across years in a single story, circling back to earlier scenes to show how memory edits and reshapes the past.
Most of her fiction is set in Huron County and other parts of southwestern Ontario, with occasional forays to cities and Europe. She returns again and again to girls on the edge of adulthood, middle aged women reconsidering marriages and affairs, and older people facing illness or the past. The situations can be quiet on the surface, but under them run questions about class, faith, sex, betrayal, and the roles women are expected to play.
Readers often recognize her people as versions of their own neighbors, relatives, and selves.
Munro eventually moved back to Ontario, settling near her childhood region and later dividing her time between Clinton and the west coast. After her first marriage ended, she married geographer Gerald Fremlin in 1976. Honors accumulated steadily: more Governor General's Awards, national prizes, and in 2009 an international prize for her body of work. In 2013 she received the Nobel Prize in Literature, praised as a master of the contemporary short story.
Her final collection, Dear Life, appeared in 2012 and included several pieces she described as close to autobiography. Munro died in Ontario on May 13, 2024. She left behind a lifetime of stories in which small towns and seemingly modest lives open out onto questions as large as time, love, and what it means to change.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.




















Comments
Did we miss something? Have feedback?
Help us improve this page by sharing your thoughts