Under the Wide and Starry Sky in Around the World

Apr 12, 2014 Lilisa rated it liked it

Shelves: around-the-world-2014, u-s, 2014, france, samoa, historical-fiction

A window into the relationship and marriage of Fanny van de Grift Osbourne and Robert Louis Stevenson, this historical fiction traces this unconventional partnership – Fanny ten years older than Louis (the name he was known as in real life) at times seemed more his mother than wife and partner. A scrappy woman, her marriage has already disintegrated as a result of her husband’s regular philandering, when she meets young Louis, a lawyer and an aspiring writer in Grez-sur-Loing, France. Herself an ...more

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Oct 04, 2013 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

In the year 1875, Fanny van de Grift Osbourne set sail for Europe with her three children, after leaving her two-timing husband. Little did she know that what life held in store for her: the heartbreak of watching her youngest child die, meeting and marrying one of the most celebrated authors of the time, and struggling to balance her own writing career and her new marriage.

The man who became her second husband was Robert Louis Stevenson. Before reading this novel, I didn’t know much about him. ...more

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Mar 25, 2021 KayG rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ultimate-around-world-list, 1-2021-read

American Samoa.

I loved this richly detailed work of historical fiction based on the lives of Louis and Fanny Stevenson. Both were immensely talented, fascinating, and complex people. Their close friends included Henry James as well as William Henley who wrote the wonderful poem, Invictus. They spent time in the U.S., Europe, and after recognizing that Louis’s challenging health issues were better at sea, settled in Samoa. This was a very satisfying read.

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