Angle of Repose
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, published by Penguin Books in 2006, is a significant work that spans 557 pages. The narrative follows Lyman Ward, a retired history professor who, while grappling with his own physical limitations, seeks to uncover the life story of his grandmother, Susan Burling Ward. Set against the backdrop of 1960s America, the book delves into the complexities of family life and the historical context of the Western frontier through Susan’s journey from New York to California.
Readers will find a rich exploration of themes such as marriage, divorce, and the challenges of disabilities as Lyman examines the intertwined lives of his grandmother and her husband, Oliver, a mining engineer. Through letters and personal writings, the story reveals their struggles with infidelity, jealousy, and tragedy, while also reflecting on Lyman’s own experiences. Angle of Repose offers a detailed look at the past and its impact on the present, making it a notable addition to the genres of historical and literary fiction.
Official synopsis Publisher
In 1960s America, Lyman Ward, a retired history professor and author of books about the Western frontier, returns to his ancestral home in the Sierra Nevada. Abandoned by his wife and wheelchair-bound with a debilitating bone disease, Ward embarks on a search of monumental proportions – to rediscover the life story of his grandmother Susan Burling Ward, who made her own journey to Grass Valley nearly a hundred years earlier.
Through detailed letters and personal writings, Ward follows the refined, educated Susan and her rugged, mining engineer husband Oliver on their journey from New York to California, traversing family struggles, infidelity, jealousy and tragedy, as they forge a new life in the Western states. In discovering her story he excavates his own, probing the shadows of his experience and the America that has come of age around him.
Winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Angle of Repose is Wallace Stegner’s masterpiece and a fascinating glimpse into frontier-era America.
Author
Publisher
Topics
FAQ
What is “Angle of Repose” about?
Who is the author of “Angle of Repose”?
When was “Angle of Repose” published?
What is the ISBN for “Angle of Repose”?
What are the book details (language, pages, edition)?
