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Title details for Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan - Available

Under the Wide and Starry Sky

A Novel

by Nancy Horan
Kirsten Potter
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
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2 of 2 copies available
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
From Nancy Horan, New York Times bestselling author of Loving Frank, comes her much-anticipated second novel, which tells 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. It is a chance for this adventurous woman to start over, to make a better life for all of them, and to pursue her own desires.  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. Emerging from a deep sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with the earthy, independent, and opinionated “belle Americaine.”
           
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.
Praise for Under the Wide and Starry Sky
 
“A richly imagined [novel] of love, laughter, pain and sacrifice . . . [Fanny Osbourne] kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson’s heart.”—USA Today
 
“Powerful . . . flawless . . . a perfect example of what a man and a woman will do for love, and what they can accomplish when it’s meant to be.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
“Spectacular . . . an exhilarating epic about a free-spirited couple who traveled the world yet found home only in one another.”—Booklist (starred review)
 
“Horan’s prose is gorgeous enough to keep a reader transfixed, even if the story itself weren’t so compelling. I kept re-reading passages just to savor the exquisite wordplay. . . . Few writers are as masterful as she is at blending carefully researched history with the novelist’s art.”—The Dallas Morning News
 
“A classic artistic bildungsroman and a retort to the genre, a novel that shows how love and marriage can simultaneously offer inspiration and encumbrance.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Nancy Horan has done it again, capturing the entwined lives of Fanny Osbourne and Robert Louis Stevenson so uncannily, it reads like truth.”—Sarah Blake, author of The Postmistress
 
“Horan has a distinct knack for evoking the rich, complicated lives of long-gone artists and the women who inspired them.”—Entertainment Weekly
 
“Fanny and Louis are wild-hearted seekers, and Nancy Horan traces their incredible journey fearlessly, plunging us through decades, far-flung continents, and chilling brushes with...

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    January 21, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780449808139
      • File size: 493418 KB
      • Duration: 17:07:57

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Kristen Potter takes the tone of an objective observer as Horan uses fiction interwoven with history to examine the relationship between a celebrity and the extraordinary, but almost forgotten, woman who won his heart. The relationship between Scotsman Robert Louis Stevenson and American Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne--from their meeting in 1875 through almost three decades of love, illness, travel, and adventure--is the focus of this novel. As the author shines a light on this May-December relationship in which Fanny, 11 years Stevenson's senior, serves as nurse, confidante, wife, and caretaker of his legacy, Potter provides a straightforward presentation that fits the prose. Overall, her delivery is smooth, although her attempts at a Scots accent are inconsistent. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 25, 2013
      Horanâs second novel (following Loving Frank) again mines the true story of a remarkable woman of history to impressive effect. This time, instead of Mameh Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright, the central couple is Fanny Osbourne and Robert Louis Stevenson. The novel charts their relationship from their first meeting in France, where Fanny takes her two daughters after leaving her irresponsible, cheating husband, Sam, and the death of her son, Hervey. At first, itâs Louisâs cousin Bob who teases Fanny out of her grief, but ultimately Louis, 10 years younger than Fanny, is the one who wins her heart. The novel goes on to describe Fannyâs return to America (she is later followed by Louis) and her divorce from Sam, marriage to Louis, and their years spent in the South Pacific traveling from one island to another. Her own writing talent is submerged in the wake of Louisâs growing fame, and her influence over him creates envy among his circle of friends in Britain. This beautifully written novel, neatly balanced between its two protagonists, makes them come alive with grace, humor, and understanding. Horanâs empathy for both Louis and Fanny allows her to capture their life together with all the complexity and nuance of a real-life relationship. Agent: Lisa Bankoff, ICM.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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