THE ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner

Finished Su 4/15/12

This is a wonderful and compelling novel, yet I think you must learn about the life of Mary Hallock Foote before you even begin Wallace Stegner's novel. His novel is really the story of her life, and this book only recounts her story, right down to the names of her children, and the descriptions of each and every mining camp and homestead where The Foote's(The Ward's) lived their lives. Stegner's characters of Susan and Oliver Ward are really the historical figures, Mary Hallock Foote and Arthur Foote. In fact, the only fiction involves the sub-plot of Frank Sargent and the death of Mary's child, Agnes. Again, this is a wonderful novel, and I loved how Wallace Stegner recounted this beautiful story set in The Wild West of America's Gilded Age, but after reading the book, I was shocked about how much of the story was based on historical fact. My edition of the novel mentioned nothing of this, and I only found out about Stegner's problem with the Foote family about his use of Mary's letters in his book after I had finished the THE ANGLE OF REPOSE.

Read THE ANGLE OF REPOSE, but, at the very least, take the time to check out Mary Hallock Foote on Wikipedia before you dig in.


The mechanical definition "the maximum angle at which an object can rest on an inclined plane without sliding down".

"Present your subject in his own terms, judge him in yours". I DISAGREE!!!

Susan Burling and Oliver Ward- Ollie, Elizabeth(Betsy), Agnes
Richard Gilder and Helena de Kay(Gilder)- models for Augusta and Thomas Hudson in the novel.

Mary Hallock Foote
Mary Hallock was born November 9, 1847, in Milton, New York, of English Quaker ancestry. In 1876 Hallock married a young mining engineer, Arthur De Wint Foote,[2] then moved cross-continent to live with him at the New Almaden mine near San Jose, California(15 miles south of San Jose, CA). Subsequently, as Arthur pursued his engineering career, she followed him throughout the West; to Leadville, Colorado(100 miles west of Denver), to Deadwood, South Dakota(far western SD, 13 miles west of Sturgis, SD), then to Boise, Idaho, where Arthur originated a major irrigation project on the Boise River; then to Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico(about 185 miles west of Mexico City), and finally to Grass Valley, California(88 miles west of Reno NV, 57 miles NW of Sacramento, CA), where Arthur advanced to managing the North Star mine, and retired there.