Saturday Book Conversations To Discuss Angle of Repose At Canton Public Library

            Canton Public Library’s Saturday Book Conversations has selected Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose as its June selection.  The conversation will be held on Saturday, June 30, at 1:00 PM.

            Angle of Repose, which won the Pulitzer prize in 1972, tells the story of Lyman Ward, an historian who, in the late 1960s, decides to write a book about his grandparents’ life on the frontier of the American West.  Ward, who is confined to a wheelchair, pursues a journey of sorts as he explores his family’s history across four generations.  The writing of the book leads to personal discoveries for Ward as it provides an historical and geographical portrait for the reader.

            Stegner’s novel incorporates the actual letters of Mary Hallock Foote, a “Victorian gentlewoman” of the far West, providing a real-life flavor for Ward’s story about his frontier-era grandparents in Stegner’s work of fiction.  At the time, Stegner’s use of the letters, ascribing them to a character in a work of fiction, created quite a controversy.

            Copies of the book are available at the library.  New members are always welcome.  Canton Public Library is at 40 Dyer Avenue, Canton.  For information:  (860) 693-5800 or www.cantonpubliclibrary.org