One of the most vivid portrayals of female adolescence in modern fiction, Alice Munro's first, and only, novel revealed her to be a writer of exceptional skill and empathy. Originally published in 1971, Lives of Girls and Women traces one girl's journey from childhood to womanhood in a series of linked and retrospectively told stories. Having escaped from the small Ontario town of Jubilee to become an author, Del Jordan recalls the seemingly insignificant events that marked her awkward transition into the adult world. With acute self-awareness, she relives her childish dreams of fame, suffers embarrassment at the hands of her encyclopedia-selling mother, endures the humiliation of her body's insistent desires, and attempts desperately to fall in love. Western Canadian actor Judy Mahbey conveys the emotional resonance of this classic work by Canada's most celebrated prac??titioner of the short story. A three-time winner of the Governor General's Award for Fiction, Alice Munro ha