A Wilder Shore
The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson
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4.6 • 5 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE PICK AND 2024 NOTABLE BOOK
AN NPR FAVORITE READ OF 2024
“Peri’s joint biography is a thrilling, haunting yarn of the sort that the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson himself became famous for—and couldn’t have written without his wife.” —The Atlantic
The extraordinary story of the creative and romantic partnership between Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife and muse, Fanny Van de Grift
He was an ambitious but drifting writer from a prominent Scottish family. She was a tough Nevada silver miner’s wife, with children, when they met. Who could have predicted that Fanny Van de Grift and Robert Louis Stevenson would go on to create one of history’s great literary marriages?
From their first encounter in France in 1876, Fanny and Louis’s partnership transcended societal expectations to become a literary union that was progressive, eccentric, and tempestuous, but always animated by a profound mutual respect. Seeking creative freedom, inspiration, and better health for Louis, who battled chronic illness, they embarked on a whirlwind journey around the world, from the bohemian enclaves of Europe to the shores of Samoa, where they lived and joined the native islanders’ fight for independence from imperialist powers. Amid the currents of their stormy yet deeply loving relationship, Fanny wrote colorful accounts of her life, contributed to Louis’s work and kept him alive to pen classic novels such as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that would go on to resonate with generations of readers.
A portrait of two extraordinary people and a testament to the power of love to foster the human spirit, A Wilder Shore unfolds with all the richness and complexity of a timeless epic, capturing the resilience, courage, and devotion that sparked some of our most celebrated and enduring literary masterpieces.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"There would be no Robert Louis Stevenson as we know him" if not for his wife, Fanny Osbourne Stevenson, according to this shrewd debut. Journalist Peri recounts how, from the couple's introduction at a French artist colony in 1876 through Stevenson's death in 1894, the pair traveled the world in search of climates that would ease Stevenson's chronic respiratory ailments, spending time in San Francisco and southern England before settling in Samoa. Peri suggests the marriage was mutually beneficial; Osbourne provided Stevenson with medical care while he used his literary connections to get her short stories published in respected magazines. More importantly, Peri contends, was Osbourne's editorial feedback on virtually everything Stevenson wrote. For instance, Peri notes that in Stevenson's first draft of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Jekyll was evil and only used the Hyde persona as a disguise; however, Osbourne convinced him to lean into the tale's themes of duality and to present the characters as moral contrasts. Peri offers a nuanced take on her subjects' relationship, positing that while theirs was more egalitarian than most (Stevenson took the unusual step of insisting Osbourne receive credit as coauthor of their short story collection, More New Arabian Nights), "the couple's verbal scuffles were notorious" and the burden of caring for Stevenson likely stunted Osbourne's own literary ambitions. This detailed history gives Osbourne her overdue turn in the spotlight.
