How I Met My Husband

“How I Met My Husband” is a short story by Alice Munro. It appeared in her 1974 collection Something I’ve Been Meaning To Tell You. Munro's other works include the collection Runaway (2003) and the novel Dear Life (2012). This guide is based on the Vintage eBook edition of the collection, published in 2014.

Fifteen-year-old Edie comes of age in postwar rural Canada. She is from a large, farming family. When she fails high school, she gets a job as the helper of Mrs. Peebles, the leisured wife of a veterinarian. The Peebles house has all the modern conveniences that Edie’s family home lacks, such as electricity and an automatic washing machine. Although Mrs. Peebles is a housewife, she is listless and unable to perform household tasks such as cooking. The Peebles have a nosy, interfering neighbor called Loretta Bird. While the Peebles assume that Loretta is a simple “countrywoman” and a self-sacrificing mother of seven, Edie knows that Loretta’s husband has a drinking problem and that the Bird family is of ill repute. Edie wishes to disassociate herself from Loretta, especially when Loretta encourages Edie to spy on the Peebles and check whether they use contraceptives.