Under the Wide and Starry Sky
By Nancy Horan
Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition
(January 21, 2014)
ISBN-10: 0345516532
ISBN-13: 978-0345516534
Approximate Lexile Level: 950
Publisher’s promotional text:
“The improbable love story of Scottish writer Robert Louis
Stevenson and his tempestuous American wife, Fanny.
“At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium—with her three children and nanny in tow—to study art. Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists’ colony in France where she can recuperate. She meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with her.
“Fanny does not immediately take to the slender young lawyer who longs to devote his life to writing—and who would eventually pen such classics as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson’s charms, and the two begin a fierce love affair—marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness—that spans the decades and the globe. The shared life of these two strong-willed individuals unfolds into an adventure as impassioned and unpredictable as any of Stevenson’s own unforgettable tales.”
“At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium—with her three children and nanny in tow—to study art. Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists’ colony in France where she can recuperate. She meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with her.
“Fanny does not immediately take to the slender young lawyer who longs to devote his life to writing—and who would eventually pen such classics as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson’s charms, and the two begin a fierce love affair—marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness—that spans the decades and the globe. The shared life of these two strong-willed individuals unfolds into an adventure as impassioned and unpredictable as any of Stevenson’s own unforgettable tales.”
This is a fictional telling of two real lives, based on
research. Both Fanny and Louis kept diaries and wrote many letters, so many of
the conversations in this book do reflect what was actually said.
As a writer myself, it’s always nice to get a peek into
someone else’s creative process.
But what this is, at its heart, is the story of a marriage
between two rather difficult characters. Both of them had faults and
infirmities, but they stuck together and cared for each other throughout their
years together. It was a pleasant read, and read like fiction, not dry history.
Possible
objectionable material: Infidelity, sex outside of marriage (not described
in detail), drinking, smoking, minor violence, a few mild curse words.
Who might like this
book: Anyone interested in history, writers, the Pacific Islands. Probably
better for teens and up.
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