Under the Wide and Starry Sky

A Novel

De: Nancy Horan

Narrado por: Kirsten Potter

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 death. Ambitious and often breathtaking, this sweeping story spills over with spirited, uncompromising life.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife

©2014 Nancy Horan (P)2014 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Fascinating...a novel that shows how love and marriage can simultaneously offer inspiration and encumbrance." (The New York Times Book Review)

"A lot of fun...Horan drapes this skeleton of facts with a richly imagined musculature of love, laughter, pain and sacrifice." (USA Today)

“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 death. Ambitious and often breathtaking, this sweeping story spills over with spirited, uncompromising life.” (Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife)

Determined to stick it out

It took me more than a month to finish this book. I wanted to read it because I visited the Writer's Museum in Edinburgh in May where I learned a lot about Robert Louis Stevenson. RLS is one of Scotland ' s "big 3." I liked the book, but it drug on and on at times. The narration was slow, but it helped put me to sleep each night.

Difficult to put down!

Thoroughly enjoyed this story! Performance was excellent. The writing was beautiful and thought provoking; providing a most pleasant experience!

good performance, story goes on a little LONG

Would you try another book from Nancy Horan and/or Kirsten Potter?

Yes I would. I felt this went on a bit long but that is more because of the lives these people led rather than the storytelling. Was pretty amazing to go from Paris to Monterrey to the south pacific. I knew nothing of RL stevenson's life at all and was really interesting!

Have you listened to any of Kirsten Potter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I had just listened to Station 11 and the content was so different that it was an odd experience frankly!

Beautiful

Start this book and be transported to a time a place no longer. Enjoy takes off a great story treller and the tour de force behind him. Discover the magic of dreaming bigger than big. I loved the book!

Fan of Nancy Horan

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. It provides some literary history with some texture from the era they lived in and their personal lives.

What did you like best about this story?

I don't know how Nancy Horan does it but she transports the reader to the lives and times that she is writing about. "Loving Frank" is still my all time favorite audiobook.

Interesting story

Interesting to learn more about the life of Robert Lewis Stevenson. It seemed weird that the focus was on his wife, not on him. Wasn’t my cup of tea.

Too long

Parts of this are fascinating but it is entirely too wordy. Some of the quoted passages could have been left out

Made me want to read Treasure Island and other Robert Lewis Stevenson’s books

I enjoyed the story about both Fanny and Lewis’s lives. I love historical autobiographical works even placed in some fictional moments. I’m looking forward to reading more of both their work now. Thank you for writing this book! We spend time with Sea Mercy in Fiji, Tonga and soon the Marshall’s. This reminds me of our time on the remote islands since 2012. I can feel the warm unhurried days and family the islanders create. Great work!

Enjoyed

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes

What other book might you compare Under the Wide and Starry Sky to and why?

Loving Frank

What about Kirsten Potter’s performance did you like?

Wonderful voices, especially R.L.S.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

A few tears, in several sad parts, and many smiles.

Any additional comments?

This book kept my interest most of the time. Still, a little editing would have made it better for me.

Slow but soothing and intriguing.

Narrator did fine job. Content at times slow but and I was easily distracted but came back repeatedly and did complete the book. Very interesting glimpse into the author (Stevenson) of books I have enjoyed. And into the life of his wife as well.