'Alice Munro Has a Strong Claim to Being the Best Fiction Writer Now Working in North America...She is Speaking to You and to Me Right Here, Right Now.' - Jonathan Franzen. on a Clear Day, You Could See 'America' From Edinburgh's Castle Rock - or so Said Alice Munro's Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, James Laidlaw, When He Had Drink Taken. Then, in 1818, Laidlaw Left the Parish of 'No Advantages', of Banked Presbyterian Emotions and Uncanny Tales - Where, Like His More Famous Cousin James Hogg, He Was Born and Bred - and Sailed to the New World With His Family. This is the Story of Those Shepherds From the Ettrick Valley and Their Descendants, Among Them the Author Herself. They Were a Spartan Lot, Who Kept to Themselves; Showing Off Was Frowned On, and Fear Was Commonplace, at Least for Females...But Opportunities Present Themselves for Two Strong-Minded Women in a Ship's Close Quarters; a Father Dies, and a Baby Vanishes En Route From Illinois to Canada; Another Story Hints at Incest;