Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

I'd read this a long time ago and remembered it as being beautifully written.  I had forgotten all the details of events including the tragic ending.  With this rereading, I was not so impressed but I think it is because I have read so much impressive writing lately.  This story within a story is a quintessential tale of the west.  At the center is Susan Burling Ward, author and artist who leaves her glittering life in the East for an adventure in the West which she hopes is temporary.  Her engineer husband,  Oliver Ward is the one responsible for their treks through many western states and Mexico.  Their life is often hard and often they spend months apart but, for the most part they rise to the occasion.  We learn of their story through Susan's grandson, Lyman Ward.  He is attempting to write his grandmother's biography although he has many challenging physical limitations.  In fact, the letters Lyman refers to for his grandmother's history are real letters from a woman named Mary Hallock Foote. It is history with a little melodrama but powerful descriptions of the early desolate west.  Life is a struggle for all the characters as they search for their angle of repose.