Shop Harry Potter in 3D
Add Prime to get Fast, Free delivery
Amazon prime logo
Buy new:
-35% $12.29
FREE delivery Monday, January 13 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$12.29 with 35 percent savings
List Price: $19.00
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Monday, January 13 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or Prime members get FREE delivery Tomorrow, January 9. Order within 7 hrs 55 mins.
In Stock
$$12.29 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$12.29
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$6.42
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
Shows signs of wear. Jacket may be torn cover may have creases pages have some writing and highlighting. May have some water damage. May be a former library book. Ships direct from Amazon! Shows signs of wear. Jacket may be torn cover may have creases pages have some writing and highlighting. May have some water damage. May be a former library book. Ships direct from Amazon! See less
FREE delivery Monday, January 13 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Sunday, January 12. Order within 18 hrs 55 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$12.29 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$12.29
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Runaway Paperback – November 8, 2005

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,798 ratings

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$12.29","priceAmount":12.29,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"12","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"29","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"YOEisKzhGvQdug1%2FFDnfYOEIE1oUYfJ12ztZOTRV7ZZMwBiIAo5rrIK4SorAOaWhj7i%2FjRS5RZL9A08FJ05wVCmUzQ1Yh%2BichuxETwJmdIoB84%2BMAWwwrr9hq1CYFMo5HIMMFpLzGVM%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$6.42","priceAmount":6.42,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"6","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"42","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"YOEisKzhGvQdug1%2FFDnfYOEIE1oUYfJ1yfe%2FR56rl1KcNYRgmOtsuJ3yoo7JXMT8v%2FG1a9hDMNSAP%2FhXh%2BJociAsNQJr1qugViUtoMZmfMhsrddBJD%2Fagx4yAJxnCmWcL5x6XMjV4BH6i7%2FMVSm8S8TGR3BnP7D2HqgAf81rHecQKuDS4rCs4w%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Eight “sparkling [and] beautifully drawn” (Entertainment Weekly) stories about love and its infinite betrayals and surprises, from Nobel Prize–winning author Alice Munro

“Each of the stories in Runaway contains enough lived life to fill a typical novel.”—The Boston Globe

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

WINNER OF THE GILLER PRIZE • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlantic Monthly, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, San Jose Mercury News, Kansas City Star

The runaway of the title story is a young woman who, though she thinks she wants to, is incapable of leaving her husband. In “Passion,” a country girl emerging into the larger world via a job in a resort hotel discovers a single moment of stunning insight and the limits and lies of that mysterious emotion. Three stories, the inspiration for the award–winning movie
Julieta, are about a woman named Juliet—in the first, she escapes from teaching at a girls’ school into a wild and irresistible love match; in the second she returns with her child to the home of her parents, whose life and marriage she finally begins to examine; and in the last, her child, caught, she mistakenly thinks, in the grip of a religious cult, vanishes into an unexplained and profound silence. In the final story, “Powers,” a young woman with the ability to read the future sets off a chain of events that involves her husband-to-be and a friend in a lifelong pursuit of what such a gift really means, and who really has it.
 
In Munro’s hands, the people she writes about—women of all ages and circumstances, and their friends, lovers, parents, and children—become as vivid as our own neighbors. It is her miraculous gift to make these stories as real and unforgettable as our own.
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now

Frequently bought together

This item: Runaway
$12.29
Get it as soon as Monday, Jan 13
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
$10.99
Get it as soon as Monday, Jan 13
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
$10.78
Get it as soon as Monday, Jan 13
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price: $00
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
spCSRF_Treatment
Choose items to buy together.
Popular Highlights in this book

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Alice Munro has a strong claim to being the best fiction writer now working in North America. Runaway is a marvel.”—Jonathan Franzen, The New York Times Book Review

Runaway may very well be the synthesizing work of one of literature’s keenest investigators into the human soul.”USA Today

“She outjoices Joyce and checkmates Chekhov. . . . Each of the stories in
Runaway contains enough lived life to fill a typical novel. . . . Her women are heroic. . . . They endure in the mind of the reader.”The Boston Globe

“As with so many of Munro’s stories, you read to have your premises altered and deepened. Could anything be better? . . . A beautiful new work.”
Los Angeles Times

“The great Alice Munro proves again why short-story writers bow down toher.”
Vanity Fair

Runaway is a big dish of Beluga caviar, sailing in on a sparkling bed of ice, with a mother-of-pearl spoon. You remember: This is why you eat, read, make love, whatever—to be left silly with admiration and delight.”The Washington Post

From the Back Cover

""Runaway" is the first story in this stunning collection, sure to be a runaway success. All of the eight stories here are new, published in book form for the first time. Two of the eight have never appeared anywhere, so this will be a special feast for the millions of Munro fans around the world.
Miraculously, these stories seem to have been written by a young writer at the peak of her powers. Alice Munro's central characters range from 14-year-old Lauren in "Trespass," through the young couple in "Runaway," whose helpful older neighbour intervenes to help the wife escape, all the way to a 70-year-old woman meeting a friend of her youth on a Vancouver street and sitting with him to recall their tangled lives fifty years earlier, through a web of cheerful lies.
Three of the stories, "Chance," "Soon," and "Silence," are linked, showing us how the young teacher Juliet meets her fisherman lover on a train (and, by terrible chance, visits his B.C. home on the day after his wife's funeral); how, years later, she brings baby Penelope back east to show her parents and learns sad secrets about their marriage; and how, twenty years on, she visits the estranged Penelope in her cult-like B.C. community. The result is more powerful than most novels, a quality in Alice Munro's stories that has been noted by many reviewers.
The final story, "Powers," spans 50 years and runs from Goderich to Vancouver and involves a cast of four characters, each of whom steps forward to dominate the scene, not least Tessa, the plain girl whose psychic powers take her on the vaudeville circuit. But it is Alice Munro's own powers that dominate this collection and that will amaze reviewers and readers. Howcan she keep getting better? How can any one person know so much about the heads and hearts of so many different people? And how can she weave them together in stories that delight academics and ordinary readers alike, making each new Alice Munro book a runaway bestseller?

"From the Hardcover edition.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (November 8, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1400077915
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1400077915
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,798 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Alice Munro
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Alice Munro grew up in Wingham, Ontario, and attended the University of Western Ontario. She has published eleven previous books.During her distinguished career she has been the recipient of many awards and prizes, including the W.H. Smith Prize, the National Book Circle Critics Award, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, the Lannan Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and the Rea Award for the Short Story. In Canada, she has won the Governor General's Award, the Giller Prize, the Trillium Book Award, and the Libris Award.Alice Munro and her husband divide their time between Clinton, Ontario, and Comox, British Columbia.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
1,798 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Customers say

Customers praise the author's skill in writing short stories. They find the plot absorbing, with unexpected twists. The characters are well-developed and relatable. Readers describe the prose as straightforward and easy to understand. The insights provided by the stories encourage reflection and discussion.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

60 customers mention "Short story writing"60 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style simple yet thought-provoking. They describe the book as an expert collection of short stories showcasing the author's talent. The stories are described as devastatingly beautiful and invite reflection and discussion.

"...I surprised myself by enjoying the entire book of stories very much...." Read more

"Very interesting read. You will enjoy it and you will keep looking ahead to get yourself to the next part." Read more

"...I would highly recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys fine writing and beautifully crafted stories, and who isn't looking for happy endings..." Read more

"...but she certainly worked my emotions, which is one sign of good writing, This is an emotional adventure, but is not a book for pleasure reading." Read more

44 customers mention "Story quality"34 positive10 negative

Customers enjoy the engaging stories with unexpected twists that keep them hooked. They find the plots interesting and thought-provoking, with human development and emotional depth. The storylines are described as haunting and real, with moral messages and an emotional adventure.

"...These stories leave you pondering relationships and all the ways that they can develop...." Read more

"...my emotions, which is one sign of good writing, This is an emotional adventure, but is not a book for pleasure reading." Read more

"...girl in the story Trespasses was disturbing and there was a nice twist at the end...." Read more

"...To impress you with how beautiful and haunting the plot lines, how insightful and real the characters, or how efficient and pinpoint accurate each..." Read more

14 customers mention "Character development"14 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's skill at character development. They find the characters human, complex, and realistic. The book is free of mannerisms and cheap tricks.

"...are simple yet unpredictable and gripping; her characters come alive with a few short stokes...." Read more

"...She plumbs the depths of her characters' emotional lives and finds beautiful expressive language at the same time...." Read more

"...how beautiful and haunting the plot lines, how insightful and real the characters, or how efficient and pinpoint accurate each and every word of her..." Read more

"...All I know is that each one is so richly developed, likable or not. I highly recommend, and cannot wait to read another book by this author." Read more

13 customers mention "Readability"11 positive2 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and understandable. They appreciate the straightforward prose, fluency, and attention to detail. The meaning is clear, but the author leaves room for interpretation.

"...Munro is a master of the telling detail. She is also a master of the unexpected and yet strangely life-like plot twist...." Read more

"...How wrong I was. Her writing soars, no gimmicks, just clear, deceptively simple prose with startling insight...." Read more

"...These beautiful stories are so well written and straight forward that I couldn't break away...." Read more

"...It is easy to read, understandable, and it gives you another perspective of daily life." Read more

8 customers mention "Insight"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and real. It offers a new perspective on daily life and encourages reflection and discussion. They describe it as an entertaining and wisdom-sharing read.

"...Each one invites reflection and discussion." Read more

"...To impress you with how beautiful and haunting the plot lines, how insightful and real the characters, or how efficient and pinpoint accurate each..." Read more

"...give us what we think we want, but instead helps us understand more fully the challenges of living...." Read more

"...It is easy to read, understandable, and it gives you another perspective of daily life." Read more

Quick delivery!
5 out of 5 stars
Quick delivery!
Got the book quick. Front cover is immaculate but the last few pages in the back of the book has some water damage. Not really complaining, just would have preferred it in better shape.
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2024
    I had never read any of Alice Munro's short stories but heard all the accolades after her death and so ordered Runaway. Generally I don't like short stories because you don't get as much character development, but Ms Munro was able to build that in despite the shorter length. And she didn't settle for the easy answers or endings - she built in all the complexity, messiness and pain of real life. I surprised myself by enjoying the entire book of stories very much. These stories leave you pondering relationships and all the ways that they can develop. I can heartily recommend this book and now would happily read any of her works.
    4 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2024
    Very interesting read. You will enjoy it and you will keep looking ahead to get yourself to the next part.
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2005
    This is the first book by Munro I've read, and now I can see what all the fuss is about. Each story in this collection is a little gem. Munro is a master of the short story form. Her plot lines are simple yet unpredictable and gripping; her characters come alive with a few short stokes. What makes her writing so life-like is that you don't know everything about her characters. What you learn about them is revealed in a few slices of time or short vignettes. As in life, you don't always understand what motivates Munro's characters to do what they do. Munro shows you their actions and describes some of the thoughts they have, but she allows you form your own conclusions. She never "forces" anything, which is why her stories seem so naturalistic.

    Some of these stories are terribly sad, particularly the three stories about a woman named Juliet who runs away from her humdrum life as an academic. It starts out optimistically enough - a train ride which seems to offer unlimited possibilities for her to re-invent herself. But the last of these three stories "Silence", is one of the saddest and most memorable short stories I've ever read. In it, Juliet experiences what it means to "run away" from the perspective of the person left behind.

    Munro is a master of the telling detail. She is also a master of the unexpected and yet strangely life-like plot twist. Many of the plots turn on seeming chance happenstance. In this collection she seems almost obsessed with the role chance and caprice play in life.

    These stories are all highly readable. Some of them build up a degree of suspense more typical of detective stories. The language is simple and spare. Even so, Munro is capable of unobtrusively adding highly sophisticated touches - for example, a character that makes an annual pilgrimage to see a Shakespeare play has her own story crucially influenced by a "Shakespearean" plot device.

    I would highly recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys fine writing and beautifully crafted stories, and who isn't looking for happy endings or unambiguous explanations.
    20 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2014
    Munro writes very well. The stories stimulate the imagination, and depict very real situations, but leave me wondering what happens next. In that way they were rather disturbing. Others in my book club found the book depressing. I can't say I was depressed, but she certainly worked my emotions, which is one sign of good writing, This is an emotional adventure, but is not a book for pleasure reading.
    10 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2005
    Munro is an extremely gifted writer who has the unique talent of keeping a woman's life in focus from adolescence to senescence. She plumbs the depths of her characters' emotional lives and finds beautiful expressive language at the same time. In the first story in this collection, "Runaway," a surprise ending shows how a husband can wreak revenge on his abused wife when she returns after leaving him unexpectedly.

    In the first of my favorite set of stories, "Chance," Juliet, a young Classics teacher leading a stunted life in Ontario, takes a fateful train ride and encounters a man from B.C. whose wife is dying; she later starts an unorthodox relationship with him but learns he already has a woman, Christa. (Many of Munro's characters are teachers or scholars.) "In the town where she grew up her sort of intelligence was often put in the same category as a limp or an extra thumb, and people had been quick to point out the expected accompanying drawbacks--her inability to run a sewing machine or tie up a neat parcel, or notice that her slip was showing. What would become of her, was the question." In a store, a woman says, "So that's the girl who talks Latin."

    The story is continued in "Soon," which concerns Juliet's trip home with her baby daughter, Penelope. It is 1969. She takes leave of Christa, who has become her friend. When they get there, Juliet finds her mother dying of heart trouble and her father tied down by manual labor after being fired as a teacher for being too outspoken. The story ends in "Silence," with time speeded up. Penelope, first adolescent and then grown, disappears from her mother's life without explanation, and Juliet's live-in companion, Eric, drowns; Christa becomes her best friend but then falls ill. Munro explores both the heartaches and the walling-in of emotions these events cause, and how Juliet continues through the years remaining to her.

    The remaining stories in the collection tell of an encounter between a woman and a sexy alcoholic, a trip up a country road to scatter someone's ashes, two Shakespearean parodies about mix-up of twins, and the life-stream of a woman who marries the wrong man and whose friend has powers of second sight about the right one. Several stories contain women characters who seem hard and rigid and disapproving, but always for an inner reason, a burden of pain.

    Munro almost literally has her finger on the pulse of people's hearts. For that reason alone, I can't do justice to her work. It's just something in which you immerse yourself.
    16 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2024
    Book in good condition as described and arrived when promised.

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • Yayita Ruiz
    5.0 out of 5 stars Historias que se quedan en la mente
    Reviewed in Mexico on April 5, 2023
    Una autora feminista que habla de nosotras las mujeres y que crea personajes que se quedan en los recuerdos. Leerla en inglés fue interesante porque es su propia voz sin intermediarios y ayuda a poner un idioma distinto al mío en práctica.
  • Bibliophile52
    5.0 out of 5 stars Alice Munro is a master of short story telling - read her books
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2024
    Well, how have I not read any Alice Munro books before now? In fact, I've only just heard of her. I'm in my 50s. I saw a programme with Rob Delaney, talking about her being his favourite author. So, 2 books under my belt and a few still to go. Mr Delaney is right - Alice Munro is a master of the short story. I loved that in this book there were 4 stories all connected, and an absolute joy to read. So well observed, and I love Mrs Munro's style. Real, real lives on the page, all that raw emotion that she's not scared to put in black and white - if you haven't read one, then get to it.
  • Ottaviano Giovanni
    5.0 out of 5 stars Okay
    Reviewed in Italy on June 26, 2024
    Ottimo
  • Mimetta
    5.0 out of 5 stars Une merveille!
    Reviewed in France on March 10, 2018
    Si vous ne connaissez pas Alice Munro, lisez ses nouvelles (en français ou en anglais)! Les petits évènements de la vie quotidienne qui ont un immense impact psychologique sur ses personnages, féminins pour la plupart. Si vous aimez la finesse, une absence totale de spectaculaire, cette lecture est pour vous!
  • Antara
    5.0 out of 5 stars Munro is a goddess
    Reviewed in India on March 29, 2018
    Alice Munro creates characters that are as human as you and me, yet their stories are as extraordinary as they can be.
    These stories leave you feeling a lot of things but what I felt the most was astonishment. Many times, the writing challenges you and compels you to think to unleash the numerous layers of these stories.
    Munro surely is a goddess. She creates magic but the most real kind of magic.