Crossing to Safety
Wallace Stegner’s last novel, published in 1987, about two couples who meet as young academics in Madison in 1937 and remain friends for the rest of their lives. There is no violence and almost no plot: the book is about money, illness, ambition, dependency and the awkward asymmetries of long friendship, narrated in retrospect by one of the four as another is dying. Stegner is better known for the western novels, but many readers hold this to be his finest book.
Recommended by 1 Person
Simon Winchester
It is very sad, beginning with the death of one of the protagonists and how it ends is incredibly touching. Wallace Stegner is known as the great western novelist and is famous for books about Montana and the crossing of the west, most notably a novel called Angle of Repose which is an absolute classic. But in terms of human tenderness I find this particular book remarkable and unforgettable.
Interview · January 2012
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.