Engrossing ... Her richly researched and vivid double portrait makes a convincing case that Fanny pulled off a rare feat, enabling Louis’s genius to mature while releasing his boyish energies ... Peri does not often venture into extended discussion of Louis’s literary work, but when she does, it can be fascinating ... I am grateful to Peri for telling the story of their marriage, in all its complexity, with sympathy and spirit.
Engrossing ... Fanny’s writing has received scant attention from previous Stevenson biographers but Peri... accords it respect ... Peri’s narrative offers a balanced appreciation of her role in the partnership, so that we understand the gifts she provided to her husband.
With this fine book...Peri convincingly argues that there was nothing remotely ordinary about either of these people — who went to the well so often that there was no water left when they were finished.
Peri draws on considerable archival sources to create a perceptive portrait of the unlikely marriage of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) and Fanny Osbourne (1840-1914) ... A richly detailed chronicle of two eventful lives.
