Wallace Stegner

Two American couples, one from the East and one from the West, form a fast and lifelong friendship during the mid-thirties of the Depression.

Margaret Stuart, the proud wife of a prosperous Iowa farmer, sets high standards for herself and others. Happy in her marriage, she tries to look the other way when her genial husband, Alec, takes to the bottle. When Elspeth, Margaret's sister, comes to live with them, the young woman is immediately captivated by the beauty and vitality of the farm and by the affection she receives from those around her. But as summer turns into fall and the friendship...

Bruce Mason returns to Salt Lake City, not for his aunt's funeral, but to encounter after forty-five years the place he fled in bitterness. A successful statesman and diplomat, Mason had buried his awkward and lonely childhood and sealed himself off from the thrills and torments of adolescence to become a figure who commanded international respect. But the realities of the present recede in the face of the ghosts of his past. As he makes the perfunctory...

Sabrina Castro, a New England woman married to an older, California doctor, attempts to come to terms with a marriage that no longer has meaning for her.

A biographical novel about Joe Hill, a radical songwriter, labor activist, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the Wobblies, who was executed in 1915 for the alleged murder of a Salt Lake City businessman.