………
DOUBLEDAY, 1971
(available in paperback from Penguin, 1992)
LYMAN WARD, the narrator of Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner’s 1972 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, is a historian and man of letters who suffers from a degenerative bone disease and is confined to a wheelchair. Committed to a degree of self-sufficiency, Lyman lives alone in Zodiac Cottage in Grass Valley, California, once the home of his parents and grandparents, attended only by a caretaker.
In 1970, Lyman reconstructs the story of the marriage of his beloved grandmother, Susan Burling, a Quaker from a modest New York abolitionist background, to Oliver Ward, a handsome, ambitious young engineer with grand ideas. Oliver Ward’s career as a mining engineer, surveyor, and irrigation and canal planner takes the young couple to the West of the post–Civil War era—not the mythic West of cowboys and Indians, but the West of the settlers who tamed new landscapes “of raw beauty” and transformed them into a version of eastern civilization and culture. Susan’s letters to her lifelong friend Augusta Drake are the primary source Lyman uses to tell his grandparents’ story.
An artist and illustrator, Susan is both gentle and genteel, qualities that complement Oliver’s more robust response to the challenges of frontier life. Their complementary qualities unite them at times and divide them at others. Susan comes to appreciate the nature of Oliver’s creativity, and Oliver in turn encourages her blossoming career as an illustrator.
Stegner, known for his love of the West and his ability to describe its grand landscapes, also captures moments of intimacy in this novel about lost hopes and the capacity to recover and grow.
During Oliver and Susan’s travels to California, Colorado, and Idaho, they encounter many different terrains, lifestyles, and people. But, when they travel to Michoacán in Mexico, where Oliver will inspect an old mine, Susan falls in love with the place, mesmerized by the culture and unusual surroundings. She describes to her grandson Lyman how she would have loved to stay there: “I had been married five years and lived most of that time in mining camps. Mexico was my Paris and my Rome.”
A letter from Susan to Augusta describes how the exotic foods in the Michoacán marketplace captivate her. She writes of turkeys, beans, onions, tortillas, pulque (a fermented beverage derived from agave plants), and “mysterious sweet and coarse sugar like cracked corn…. Such a colorful jumble, such a hum of life.”
Lena Shelton selected this Mexican Chocolate Torte recipe from Gourmet magazine (March 1993) for her San Francisco book club, the Epicureaders, when they held their dinner discussion of Angle of Repose. Shelton says she chose the torte because Mexico was so beloved by Susan. “The torte features cinnamon and almonds, two popular ingredients in Mexican baking, which add spice and depth to the intensely chocolate cake,” says Shelton.
Mexican chocolate is a combination of chocolate, cinnamon, and almonds, and this dessert highlights these delicious flavors.
For the torte 1 cup (about 5 ounces) whole almonds (with skins)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon ¾ teaspoon salt 5 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped 5 eggs, separated 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
|
For the glaze 4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons heavy cream 1 tablespoon light corn syrup |
For the icing
|
1 ½ teaspoons milk |
Preheat oven to 350°F, with rack in center position.
To make the torte: Spread the almonds in a single layer in a shallow baking pan and toast, tossing every 3–4 minutes, until the nut meat is a light golden brown, about 10–15 minutes in all. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
Lower oven temperature to 325°F. Butter an 8½-inch springform pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Butter the paper and dust the pan with flour, knocking out the excess.
In a food processor, blend together the almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt until the almonds are finely ground. Add the chocolate and blend until finely ground. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and blend until combined well (the mixture will be very thick). Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Place the egg whites and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar until the meringue just holds stiff peaks.
Fold about 
of the meringue into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining meringue gently but thoroughly. Pour the batter into the pan, smooth the top, and bake 45–55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then run a thin knife around the edge and remove the sides of the pan. Invert the torte onto the rack, discarding the parchment paper, and allow to cool.
To make the glaze: In a metal bowl set over barely simmering water, combine the chocolate, butter, cream, and corn syrup. Stir until smooth, and let the glaze cool until it is just lukewarm.
Turn the torte right side up on the rack with something underneath to catch the drips, and pour glaze over the top, smoothing with a spatula and letting the excess drip down the sides.
To make the icing: Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon of the milk in a small mixing bowl. Add just enough of the remaining milk, drop by drop, to form a thick icing.
Transfer the icing to a small pastry bag fitted with a 
-inch plain tip and pipe it decoratively onto the torte. Transfer the torte to a serving plate and let stand for 2 hours, or until glaze is set.
Yield: 8 to 12 servings
Each month the Epicureaders—five women from the San Francisco Bay Area with great enthusiasm for food and literature—delve into their reading and are inspired to new culinary heights. “We all love to cook, and food had to be an integral part of the reading group,” says Lena Shelton.
“Angle of Repose takes place during America’s westward movement, a period of history that is not very well chronicled, especially in literature,” says member Stacey Pelinka. “As a California-based reading group, we are interested in California history, and the California locations described in the book are meaningful to us.”
The Epicureaders explored how the difficulties of narrator Lyman Ward’s grandparents paralleled those in his own life: his wife’s infidelity, his own challenges understanding his children, and his unrealized dreams of success.
“Angle of Repose has weighty subject matter, surprises in the plot that keep the lengthy narrative fresh, and dual perspectives, modern and historical, that parallel each other,” says Margo Kieser. “The past always influences the present.”
The Epicureaders chose a California dinner theme for their Angle of Repose menu. “We stopped short of re-creating meals from California’s earlier days, in which the book is set,” says Lena Shelton, “and chose contemporary recipes with characteristic California ingredients such as avocados, goat cheese, wild mushrooms, and Dungeness crab.”
Their menu included vin de cerise, a sweet drink made with cherries, wine, and sugar; wild mushrooms on croutons; chilled cucumber-avocado soup and dilled carrot soup; seafood pasta salad with lemon-dill dressing; spicy brown rice with eggplant and tomatoes; asparagus with hazelnuts and hazelnut oil vinaigrette; and goat cheese scalloped potatoes with chive blossoms—all followed by lemon pie, strawberry sorbet with rosemary, and Mexican Chocolate Torte (see recipe) for dessert.
