Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan 474 Pages
Horan returns to historical fiction with this novel about the relationship between writer Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. Fanny has traveled to Europe with her 3 children to study art, but more to escape her philandering husband. In her travels she meets Robert Louis Stevenson and the book fleshes out their relationship until Stevenson's death at 44. Presented in a dual narrative, each character presents their history and from a factual point of view it is interesting.
The book is uneven in its character development of the two and we are often left wanting more emotional attachment to Fanny and RLS. Horan fails to bring the couple to life completely.
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