Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Under the Wide and Starry Sky / Nancy Horan / 496 pages / 14 discs

   How much do you really know about Robert Louis Stevenson? You probably can say he published Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but how about who or what he really was? This wonderful and engrossing novel is just the ticket. Fanny van de Grift has left her husband and taken her children to Europe. She is tired of her husband's philandering and has decided to study art in Belgium. After settling in Paris due to a misunderstanding, her life takes an abrupt turn as tragedy engulfs her family. Fanny takes her children to a quiet art community to recover where she meets a young brash Scot named Stevenson. It is this meeting that will change the course of two families and will impact the publishing world with wild adventurous tales.
   I will admit to not knowing a lot about Stevenson but this book by Horan changed a lot of my thinking. For those of you remembering how in depth her research was for Loving Frank you will not be disappointed. Fanny and Robert are good and yet bad for each other. Robert finds his muse and proves his talent for adventure tales all the while battling his fragile health. Fanny struggles to find her place besides being "Mrs. Stevenson" and fights some dark demons herself. The narrator chosen for the audio was brilliant. Kirsten Potter has a voice that just brought Fanny to life and we lived her anger, frustration and absolute joy in life. I think this would be a great book club selection but I will warn you several sections just needed a stronger editor or maybe just skip those years altogether. I can't imagine all the work Horan must have done to even get a grip on what this couple did in their life time. This is a tremendous work that will reward you and make you curious to read those adventure stories once again.

Six Degrees of Reading: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman.

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