Crossing to Safety

Crossing to Safety is a 1987 semi-autobiographical novel by Wallace Stegner. Using a series of flashbacks in the mind of a writer, Larry Morgan, throughout a single day, the novel is a reflection on youth, idealism, and the often unarticulated but lifelong process of compromise one must endure while seeking a stable place in the world. Stegner’s novel explores these themes via Larry’s perspective on two academic couples: Larry and his wife, Sally Morgan, and Sidney and Charity Lang. The flashbacks extend from Larry’s time as a young professor during the Great Depression in Madison, Wisconsin, through his late-life near the end of the 20th century.

Larry recalls his early years in Madison, in which he struggles to secure a job in a liberal arts college while also trying to complete his first novel cloistered in a small, dingy basement apartment. He tries to convince the academy staff to extend his teaching job to support Sally and their expected child. In a stroke of luck, Larry and Sally become fast friends with Sid and Charity. While the Langs are highly educated, wealthy, born into prestigious families, and ostensibly well integrated into their society, the Morgans come from poor, uneducated backgrounds and struggle to fit in.