Northern light …

… Nobel Alice - Isak. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

She's compared often to Chekhov, but that's a sloppy comparison, only suggesting that they both were astounding writers who wrote short stories; Munro stories and Chekhov stories are hugely different animals. Munro stories longer and more narrated -- less dialogue -- than Chekhov's. They tend to move more in time. The people who take up the space of her stories are typically modest country women from southwestern Ontario. Her stories are particular, with a genius for detail, while opening up into ambiguous, sweeping spaces.