Angle of Repose

By: Wallace Stegner (1971)

Pulitzer Prize–winning novel following historian Lyman Ward, confined to a wheelchair, who excavates the letters of his pioneering grandmother to write her biography — and, in the process, examines the nature of marriage, the American West, and what it means to find one’s “angle of repose.” Widely considered Stegner’s masterwork.

Where seen: Kyle is actively reading this as of August 2026; still in progress as of the 2026-09-05 reading-list review.

Re-surfaced (recommendation #2) in the reply thread to @moseskagan asking “What historical fiction should I read next?” (April 13, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand; the full list lives on What historical fiction should I… (tweet).