Remembering Laughter

Product Description Remembering Laughter marked Wallace Stegner's brilliant literary debut. 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 between Alec and Elspeth deepens, Margaret finds her spirit tested by a series of events that seem as cruel and inevitable as the endless prairie winters. Review ''Adroit and moving . . . has the quality of a rueful ironic legend.'' --New York Times''There is no use to mention the assurance and calm that Mr. Stegner brings to his first book -- it has to be read to be believed.'' --Saturday Review''I thought Remembering Laughter a perfect little novel, clean, swift, and assured, and I can still feel the weight of the disaster in it.'' --Wendell Berry, author of That Distant Land About the Author WALLACE STEGNER (1909-1993) wrote many books of fiction and nonfiction, including Crossing to Safety and the National Book Award-winning The Spectator Bird. Angle of Repose won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972.