Sabrina Castro is a wealthy, attractive woman with a strong New England heritage who is married to an older California physician who no longer fulfills her dreams. As she seeks the meaning of love, an almost accidental misstep leads her down the path of moral disintegration, until there is no place for her to go except up and out. How she comes to terms with her life is the theme of this absorbing personal drama played out against the backdrop of an old Peninsula estate where her mother lives among her servants, her memories of Boston, and her treasured family archives. Now on audio for the first time, A Shooting Star displays the storytelling powers that Wallace Stegner’s fans have enjoyed for more than half a century.
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"I had a hard time getting started, but loved the book. As is usual for Stegner, it picked up steam as it went along. I always get the sense that I'm aboard a train headed for a wreck in his books."
— Bonnie (5 out of 5 stars)
" This book is not of the same excellent caliber of Wallace Stegner's other novels. Read his others. "
— Lisa, 2/15/2014" My least favorite, but has some outstanding moments. "
— Laura, 2/13/2014" Exasperating mid-20th century existential angst culminating in possible turn towards recovery. Perhaps read in 1961 it would have resonated more strongly? "
— Dennis, 12/26/2013" I love Wallace Stegner so thought I'd try this one "
— Vickie, 12/25/2013" I found this fascinating although claustrophobic. Some people will find it a bit dated, but it's important to remember what it was like for women in 1961. "
— Francesca, 12/5/2013" His Angle of Repose won the Pulitzer. His writing is minutely detailed and complex, and his characters, while vastly interesting, are never your favorites. "
— Sarah, 11/13/2013" I found this quite readable because it was Stegner, but didn't much like the main character. Still, an example of how a great writer can bring me along for the ride almost against my will. "
— Dayna, 11/2/2013" I read this book about eight years ago during a "Wallace Stenger Summer" when I read just about everything he'd written that was in print...I remember liking it more back then. Still a great character driven piece of old California... "
— Julie, 11/1/2013" Love love love anything by Stegner, although I think this was my least favorite. "
— Erin, 7/18/2013" I love Wallace Stegner. I think 'Angle of Repose' is one of the best books I've ever read. I have enjoyed several others as well. This one? Not so much. It is wordy, but we love Wallace for that, right?, with a floating? rambling? plot line and too dramatic & petulant characters. "
— B, 12/13/2012" Another Wallace Stegner book that I really enjoyed. "
— Maki, 10/21/2012" i liked it only because it's wallace's. the characters were too predicable, the plot mediocre at best but the writing was good. "
— Kendall, 6/20/2012" Stegner's attempt at a high-society novel. Weaker for the attempt to look inside of a social class and gender he was much less equipped to write about, the novel still contains the beautiful naturalistic prose and eye for detail Stegner is a master of. "
— John, 12/3/2011" This was a tough read for me. There was a moment when the story got interesting however, by the end it just felt like a really long walk to nowhere. It was like spending time with an unbalanced, negative, self absorbed woman who obsessively talks about herself. "
— Mgganeles, 11/4/2011" I love Wallace Stegner, but this is not my favorite of his work. I thought it was a complicated story about disappointment, finding purpose, struggling to understand what you want. I felt it rambled at the end, long after I felt like I knew the message already. "
— Maia, 11/4/2011" Early Stegner, kept my interest but the main character seemed overwrought at times. Story of a very wealthy woman with family and relationship problems who seems lost and adrift until she settles again in her mother's home and decides to remake that flawed relationship. "
— Michelle, 10/16/2011" another masterful stegner tale of an american family. "
— Melanie, 9/9/2011" I had a hard time engaging with the book's protagonist through most of the book and some of the dialogue comes across as preachy when touching on Stegner's pet issues of the environment and modern society. "
— Rosa, 5/8/2011" My least favorite, but has some outstanding moments. "
— Laura, 4/28/2011" Another Wallace Stegner book that I really enjoyed. "
— Maki, 2/23/2011" I love Wallace Stegner so thought I'd try this one "
— Vickie, 7/20/2009" I found this quite readable because it was Stegner, but didn't much like the main character. Still, an example of how a great writer can bring me along for the ride almost against my will. "
— Dayna, 7/13/2009" i liked it only because it's wallace's. the characters were too predicable, the plot mediocre at best but the writing was good. "
— Kendall, 6/17/2009" His Angle of Repose won the Pulitzer. His writing is minutely detailed and complex, and his characters, while vastly interesting, are never your favorites. "
— Sarah, 8/21/2008" I read this book about eight years ago during a "Wallace Stenger Summer" when I read just about everything he'd written that was in print...I remember liking it more back then. Still a great character driven piece of old California... "
— Julie, 5/13/2008" Love love love anything by Stegner, although I think this was my least favorite. "
— Erin, 1/31/2008Wallace 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. An American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, Stegner was often called the “dean of Western writers” and has left a lasting legacy in the literary community.
Bernadette Dunne is the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and has twice been nominated for the prestigious Audie Award. She studied at the Royal National Theatre in London and the Studio Theater in Washington, DC, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center and off Broadway.