Under the Wide and Starry Sky

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.

November 1, 2013
Horan (Loving Frank, 2007) offers another fictionalized romantic biography, this time of Robert Louis Stevenson and his American wife, Fanny. In 1875, 35-year-old Fanny Osbourne arrives in Europe with her three children--16-year-old Belle, 7-year-old Sammy and 3-year-old Hervey--ostensibly to study art but really to escape Sam, her perpetually unfaithful husband. After Hervey dies of tuberculosis in Paris, grieving Fanny decamps to a rural inn, where she encounters "Louis." He has been hiking the countryside alone, despite fragile health, to celebrate earning a law degree to please his father, although he plans never to practice law. For Louis, 10 years Fanny's junior, it is love at first sight. Initially, she resists--he is too boisterous and sickly--but she is eventually won over, as every reader will be, by his love of life and pure spirit as well as his genius. They live happily more or less together in Paris until Sam arrives from California and begs Fanny to reconcile. For the sake of her kids, Fanny returns to the U.S., but soon, Sam begins philandering again. Meanwhile, Louis has taken his famous donkey ride in the Cevennes, then heads to California to win Fanny back, arriving at her doorstep deathly ill from his arduous journey. Sam agrees to a divorce, and the lovers marry in 1880; Fanny is 40, Louis 29. While Louis' parents accept her as family, his literary friends, with the exception of the stalwart Henry James, consider her an American rube and are increasingly jealous of Louis' success. The Stevensons begin a life of travel: Scotland, Switzerland, France, Bournemouth, Colorado, the South Seas. Frequently bedridden, Louis is always writing, and this novel shows the germinating seeds of his classic works. While the retelling of the Stevensons' lives is rather pedestrian, Robert Louis Stevenson comes through as utterly irresistible.

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Starred review from October 1, 2013
Horan's spectacular second novel (following book-club favorite Loving Frank, 2007) has been worth the wait. Brimming with the same artistic verve that drives her complicated protagonists, it follows the loving, tumultuous partnership of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and his Indiana-born wife, Fanny Osbourne. Fanny, an aspiring artist still tied to her unfaithful first husband when they meet in 1875, is fiery, courageous, and the mother of two living children. Louis, a younger man whose frailty belies a joyous, energetic spirit, dreams of writing full-time. While he perfects his craft, she becomes his protector and editor-collaborator, accompanying him across Europe and America and finally to Samoa in hopes of healing his weak lungs. This is more than just another novel designed to honor the unsung accomplishments of a famous man's spouse, though. Equally adventurous and colorful, Louis and Fanny could each command the story singlehandedly. Together, they are riveting and insightfully envisioned, including through moving depiction of how their relationship transforms over time. Horan also explores relevant social concerns, such as cultural imperialism and xenophobia, and how Stevenson's life influenced his literary themes. An exhilarating epic about a free-spirited couple who traveled the world yet found home only in one another.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2013

Horan's second novel is widely anticipated, as her debut, Loving Frank, has sold nearly a million copies and received exceptional reviews. Once more, Horan depicts a rule-breaking relationship, that of Robert Louis Stevenson and American divorcee Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, who became his wife. They met in France in 1875, Fanny having fled a cheating husband and Robert the expectation that he become a lawyer, and Horan should ably capture their wide and starry love.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2013

Horan chronicles the romance between Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) and his American wife, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne (1840-1914), in her anticipated sophomore effort after the acclaimed Loving Frank. With both individuals looking to escape family difficulties, the two meet and fall in love at an artists' retreat in France. They take up globe-trotting in the interest of Stevenson's poor health, and their search for a curative climate takes them throughout Europe, across the United States, and, finally, to the Pacific Islands, where they live until his death. Stevenson's illness and its impact is well drawn, as Horan captures the frustration of a vibrant mind trapped within a weak body. Osbourne's ceaseless devotion allows her husband to concentrate on his writing, but her sacrifice comes at great personal cost to them both. Despite such renderings, the characters remain at arm's length from the reader and their mutual passion never touches us. While Horan succeeds in presenting the couple's entire lives together, much of the drama and relationship growth appears to have been sacrificed for the sake of totality. VERDICT The many fans of Loving Frank will flock to this novel, but those looking for a deep character study of either Stevenson or Osbourne may come away dissatisfied. [See Prepub Alert, 6/24/13; library marketing.]--Liza Oldham, Beverly, MA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.