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Lives of Girls and Women

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description Lives of Girls and Women Overview

"Lives of Girls and Women" is a 1971 novel by Canadian author Alice Munro, structured as a linked sequence of stories following Del Jordan from childhood through adolescence in a small fictional Ontario town. It is Munro's only work published explicitly as a novel, though it shares the episodic structure characteristic of her short fiction. The book traces Del's intellectual and emotional development, her observations of rural community life, and her emerging ambition as a writer. Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013, and this early novel is often cited as a key work in her body of fiction.

help Lives of Girls and Women FAQ

Who is Del Jordan in Lives of Girls and Women?

Del is the narrator and central character, growing up near the fictional Ontario town of Jubilee. The linked stories follow her family life, schooling, sexuality, religious curiosity, and emerging desire to become a writer.

Is Lives of Girls and Women a novel or a short-story collection?

It is commonly described as a novel in linked stories because the chapters form a continuous account of Del Jordan's development. Published in 1971, it is generally treated as Alice Munro's only novel.

Is Jubilee based on a real Ontario town?

Jubilee is fictional but draws on the social landscape of southwestern Ontario. Munro grew up near Wingham, and versions of that region recur throughout her fiction.

Why does Del reject the novel planned by Bobby Sherriff at the end?

Del realizes that turning Jubilee into a melodramatic story would flatten the complexity of its people. The ending points toward the observational precision that later became a hallmark of Munro's fiction.

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