Crossing To Safety – Wallace Stegner

READ FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Rachel

Crossing to Safety is a 1987 novel about the friendship between two couples and their entwined journeys through the pleasures and cruelty of life.

Sally and Larry Morgan are ambitious, hard-working and poor. Sid and Charity Lang are Harvard graduates, social and full of excesses, with the money to provide all they need. The Langs take the former couple under their wings in friendship, and their money and ability to provide luxuries the Morgan’s couldn’t afford otherwise puts the Langs in a position of power and control over the friendship.

The men are professors and colleagues, vying for some of the same opportunities, the women fall pregnant together. The couples party together, holiday together and share in the same successes and tragedies. The book is a detailed study of the characters and all the life events they share together.

Control vs interdependence is a strong theme, as is being rescued. But this power struggle over who needs rescuing and who has the power is something that changes often, as in real life.

What ever happened to the passion we all had to improve ourselves, live up to our potential, leave a mark on the world? Our hottest arguments were always about how we could contribute. We did not care about the rewards. We were young and earnest.

✎ “For me, there is no description that does this book justice. Ultimately it is a character study of two couples who are so expertly written it’s as if they exist. I know some of the other freerangers were stifled by how suffocating and maddening Charity could be, but for me the characters being either endearing and selfless or opinionated and maddening, just shows how carefully they were crafted. What’s more they reflect the reality of real life situations and friendships. Stegner has a flawless, enchanting writing style and I knew from the first page I was going to fall in love with this story.” – Rachel

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Published 1987
Penguin Books