WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE(R) IN LITERATURE 2013 The only novel from Alice Munro-award-winning author of The Love of a Good Woman--is an insightful, honest book, "autobiographical in form but not in fact," that chronicles a young girl's growing up in rural Ontario in the 1940's. Del Jordan lives out at the end of the Flats Road on her father's fox farm, where her most frequent companions are an eccentric bachelor family friend and her rough younger brother. When she begins spending more time in town, she is surrounded by women-her mother, an agnostic, opinionted woman who sells encyclopedias to local farmers; her mother's boarder, the lusty Fern Dogherty; and her best friend, Naomi, with whom she shares the frustrations and unbridled glee of adolescence. Through these unwitting mentors and in her own encounters with sex, birth, and death, Del explores the dark and bright sides of womanhood. All along she remains a wise, witty observer and recorder of truths in small-town life. The result is a powerful, moving, and humorous demonstration of Alice Munro's unparalleled awareness of the lives of girls and women.

A portrayal of a young girl's youth in a Canadian town and her awakening to womanhood in the 1940s follows Del Jordan as she explores the dark and bright sides of womanhood and records the frustrations, joys, triumphs, and trials of small-town life.

Lives of Girls and Women is the intensely readable, touching and very funny story of Del Jordan, a young woman who journeys from the carelessness of childhood through an uneasy adolescence in search of love and sexual experience. As Del dreams of becoming famous, suffers embarrassment about her mother, endures the humiliation of her body's insistent desires, and tries desperately to fall in love, she grapples with the cries that mark the passage to womanhood.

The only novel from bestselling author Alice Munro, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature Catching frogs, grazing knees, singing songs to save England from Hitler - that was childhood for Del Jordan, and now she's impatient for more. More than she can find in the encyclopedias sold by her mother, or in the half-understood innuendos dispensed by best friend Naomi, or in the whispers of boys during Friday night dances. Just like the girls in the movies, she wants to get started on real life. In her only novel, Alice Munro turns her eye to the frustrations, embarrassments, glee and bewilderment of adolescence, and to the brushes with sex, death, violence and birth that shape the lives of girls and women. 'I am the perfect audience for her brand of quiet, seething feminism' Lena Dunham 'Superb' Independent 'In Munro's work, nothing can be predicted. Emotions erupt. Preconceptions crumble. Surprises proliferate' Margaret Atwood 'Exact and unflinching' Guardian 'She is one of the handful of writers, some living, most dead, whom I have in mind when I say that fiction is my religion' Jonathan Franzen

The story of Del Jordan grappling with life's problems as she moves from the carelessness of childhood through adolescence in search of love and sexual experience.

Through the women and men she encounters, Del becomes aware of her own potential and the excitement of an unknown independence. Alice Munro's previous books include Dance of the Happy Shades and The Beggar Maid, which was nominated for the 1980 Booker Prize.

Fiction. Literature. Short Stories. HTML:The debut novel from Nobel Prize–winning author Alice Munro, “one of the most eloquent and gifted writers of contemporary fiction” (The New York Times).

“Munro has an unerring talent for uncovering the extraordinary in the ordinary.”—Newsweek
 
Rural Ontario, 1940s. Del Jordan lives out at the end of the Flats Road on her father’s fox farm, where her most frequent companions are an eccentric bachelor family friend and her rough younger brother. When she begins spending more time in town, she is surrounded by women—her mother, an agnostic, opinionated woman who sells encyclopedias to local farmers; her mother’s boarder, the lusty Fern Dogherty; and her best friend, Naomi, with whom she shares the frustrations and unbridled glee of adolescence. 
 
Through these unwitting mentors and in her own encounters with sex, birth, and death, Del explores the dark and bright sides of womanhood. All along she remains a wise, witty observer and recorder of truths in small-town life. The result is a powerful, moving, and humorous demonstration of Alice Munro’s unparalleled awareness of the lives of girls and women.

One of the most vivid portrayals of female adolescence in modern fiction, Lives of Girls and Women revealed Alice Munro to be a writer of exceptional skill and empathy. First published in 1971, Munro's one and only novel traces one girl's journey from childhood to womanhood. Narrated by Canadian actor Judy Mahbey, this audio edition, originally broadcast on CBC Radio, conveys the emotional resonance of this classic work by Canada's most celebrated practitioner of the short story. As a girl, Del Jordan lived on her father's fox farm at the end of Flats Road with her rough younger brother and an eccentric bachelor family friend as companions. But as she grew up and started spending more time with the women in town, she explored the dark and bright sides of womanhood: sex, birth and death. Now an adult, and far away from the little Ontario town of Jubilee, Del Jordan wants to be a writer. Recalling the seemingly insignificant events that marked her awkward transition into the adult world, she relives her childish dreams of fame with acute self-awareness, suffers embarrassment at the hands of her encyclopedia-selling mother, endures the humiliation of her body's insistent desires and desperately attempts to fall in love. Alice Munro's prose combined with Judy Mahbey's narration results in a powerful, moving and humorous demonstration of an unparalleled awareness of the lives of girls and women.

"Del Jordan lives out at the end of the Flats Road on her father's fox farm, where her most frequent companions are an eccentric bachelor family friend and her rough younger brother. When she begins spending more time in town, she is surrounded by women-her mother, an agnostic, opinionted woman who sells encyclopedias to local farmers; her mother's boarder, the lusty Fern Dogherty; and her best friend, Naomi, with whom she shares the frustrations and unbridled glee of adolescence. Through these unwitting mentors and in her own encounters with sex, birth, and death, Del explores the dark and bright sides of womanhood. All along she remains a wise, witty observer and recorder of truths in small-town life." -- P.4 of cover.

Set in a small town in Ontario during the 1940s, young Del Jordan seeks to find herself as she approaches womanhood.

This narrative by Del Jordan tells of her passage through the many phases of growing up in the 1940's & 1950's

The touching and funny story of Del Jordan, a young woman who journeys from the carlessness of childhood to womanhood.

A mother and daughter, caged with the internal strife of stifled desires, trapped ambition, and silenced dreams, seeking more in the world beyond home. "There is a change coming in the lives of girls and women." Del Jordan and her mother long for more outside of their small home town of Jubilee, though they cannot say so, at the risk of inviting the ire of the town. In her distinctive literary style, Munro presents a thought-provoking cycle on two women coping with the claustrophobic habits and norms of small town life competing with their greater ambitions and desires to leave. But do all roads ultimately lead back home?

In this adult novel by the famous Canadian writer Munro, we watch a 10-year-old girl become a young woman and trace her dreams and search for love.

The story of Del Jordan begins with a frog-catching expedition and ends with a shattered love affair. Between, lies the rich and unforgettable texture of female experience.

Twelve-year-old Del Jordan lives in a small Ontario town, where few things are important than learning to be a "nice girl," and where nice girls aren't supposed to know much about some things.

A poignant portrayal of a young girl's youth in a Canadian town and her awakening to womanhood

Del Jordan lives out at the end of the Flats Road on her father's fox farm, where her most frequent companions are an eccentric bachelor family friend and her rough younger brother. When she begins spending more time in town, she is surrounded by women-her mother, an agnostic, opinionted woman who sells encyclopedias to local farmers; her mother's boarder, the lusty Fern Dogherty, and her best friend, Naomi, with whom she shares the frustrations and unbridled glee of adolescence.

Delvis selvbiografisk skildring fra Canada af en ung piges modning til kvinde og kunstner, belyst ved punktnedslag i afgr̜ende begivenheder i hendes liv: en onkels dd̜, de fr̜ste seksuelle erfaringer, de fr̜ste skriverier.

La vida de la gente, en Jubilee como en todas partes, era aburrida, simple, asombrosa e insondable... cuevas profundas cubiertas de linóleo de cocina. Bastan estas pocas palabras para reconocer el talento de una espléndida narradora y colarse en la vida de Del Jordán, una chiquilla que vive con sus padres en el pueblo de Jubilee. Del empieza contando su día a día, su relación con la familia, los vecinos y los amigos; pronto descubrimos que esa niña sabe observar el mundo y sacar buen provecho de lo que ve: compadece la poquedad del padre, admira el arrojo de la madre, que deja la granja para dedicarse a vender enciclopedias por los alrededores, y comprende que tarde o temprano tendrá que elegir entre una risueña mediocridad -hogar, iglesia, matrimonio, hijos- y otras opciones más interesantes pero más arriesgadas. Ese descubrimiento es también el de la vocación literaria, una suerte de llamada, de deber para con el mundo. Esta deliciosa novela, que la autora escribió cuando tenía cuarenta años, es 'autobiográfica en la forma, no en los contenidos', como comenta irónicamente la misma Alice Munro. (Descripción del editor.)

Ber©Þttelsen om Del Jordan, som v©Þxer upp p©Æ landsbygden i Ontario p©Æ 1940-talet, ©Þr en fiktiv sj©Þlvbiografi om f©œrfattarens resa in i vuxenlivet. Del bor p©Æ sin fars g©Ærd, d©Þr hon mest umg©Æs med sin yngre bror och en excentrisk ungkarl, v©Þn till familjen. N©Þr hon b©œrjar tillbringa mer tid i staden omger hon sig f©œr f©œrsta g©Ængen med kvinnor: sin mor, moderns hyresv©Þrd och b©Þsta v©Þnnen Naomi. Genom dessa kvinnor och i sina egna m©œten med sex, moderskapet och d©œden utforskar Del de m©œrka och ljusa sidorna av kvinnligheten.

Selvbiografisk roman.