The View from Castle Rock

The View from Castle Rock is a book of short stories by Canadian author Alice Munro, published in 2006 by McClelland and Stewart.

It is a collection of historical and autobiographical stories. The first part of the book narrates the lives of members of the Laidlaw branch of the family tree of the author, starting from their Scottish origins in the 18th century. The second part consists of fictionalized tales inspired by events in her own life.

Contents

• Foreword
• Part One / No Advantages
• "No Advantages"
• "The View from Castle Rock"
• "Illinois"
• "The Wilds of Morris Township"
• "Working for a Living"
• Part Two / Home
• "Fathers"
• "Lying Under the Apple Tree"
• "Hired Girl"
• "The Ticket"
• "Home"
• "What Do You Want to Know For?"
• Epilogue
• "Messenger"

Stories

No Advantages

This narrative retells the lives of members of the Laidlaw family who lived in Ettrick Valley, Scotland, in the 18th century.The title comes from the judgment by the Statistical Account of Scotland in 1799 that This parish possesses no advantages.Will O'Phaup was a mythical man, who was a prodigious runner, a bootlegger, and a heavy drinker; he had encounters with fairies and ghosts.Thomas Boston was the local presbyterian preacher at the same time; he wrote on matters of faith, he was obsessed with religious guilt, his ideas were borderline heretical, he had a very hard...
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