Alice Munro’s daughter says her mother kept quiet when her stepfather sexually assaulted her – Winnipeg Free Press

The youngest daughter of famed author Alice Munro has written a first-person essay in the Toronto Star detailing sexual abuse by her stepfather and her mother’s decision to side with her husband over her child.

In the article published Sunday, Andrea Robin Skinner describes how the Nobel Prize-winning short story writer remained married to her second husband Gerald Fremlin even after learning of the abuse.

In the Star article, Skinner says Fremlin climbed into her bed and initiated sexual contact in 1976 when she was 9 years old.

She said Fremlin continued to expose himself to her and make sexual propositions until he lost interest when she reached her teenage years.

Skinner reported the incident to police in 2005 and Fremlin eventually pleaded guilty to indecent assault. She says the incident remained an open secret in the Munro family for years and she eventually estranged herself from her mother, who Skinner says sided with her husband and treated the assault as an injury to herself.