Mavis Gallant draws us into the tricky labyrinth of human behaviour, while offering readers her unique, clear-eyed vision of Canadians both at home and abroad. Ranging in time and place from small-town Quebec during the Depression, to Geneva and Paris in the 1950s, to contemporary Vancouver Island, these stories explore the remorseless cruelty of children, the tensions that affect all families, the dangerous but endearing naïveté of young girls in love with Europe, and the terrible distances that divide people who love each other. And in the celebrated “Linnet Muir” stories, Gallant draws on her own experiences to portray a sensitive and alarmingly perceptive young girl growing up in Montreal in the 1930s and 1940s.

Thank you for the lovely tea -- Jorinda and Jorindel -- Saturday -- Up north -- Orphans’ progress -- The prodigal parent -- In the tunnel -- The ice wagon going down the street -- Bonaventure -- Virus X -- In youth is pleasure -- Between zero and one -- Varieties of exile -- Voices lost in snow -- The doctor -- With a capital T.