Storyteller

“Damrosch is one of the preeminent literary biographers of our time, and this magnificent biography of Robert Louis Stevenson reveals much about a writer that we think we knew. . . . Dazzling.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Damrosch brings the celebrated novelist to life. It’s a notable achievement.”—Publishers Weekly “In this biography told as an adventure story, Leo Damrosch convincingly portrays R. L. Stevenson as one of the most endearing writers in the English language.”—Alberto Manguel, author of A Reader on Reading “This will now stand as the standard modern life of Robert Louis Stevenson, its scholarly authority enhanced by its readability. The events of Stevenson’s extraordinary life are narrated with verve, and RLS himself is brought vividly before us, his complexity and charisma conveyed without any note of hagiography (or, conversely, critical debunking).”—Ian Duncan, University of California, Berkeley “This is a Stevenson biography aimed at readers of Stevenson. RLS sought adventure in his lifetime; his contemporaries were admiring and envious of his bold, restless spirit, and the twenty-first-century reader is no less likely to relish this quest to encounter the elemental forces of a powerful storm, a forty-below cold spell, or a desperate dash across the American continent to find the romantic partner of one’s dreams.”—William Sharpe, author of The Art of Walking: A History in 100 Images “In this superb and richly atmospheric biography, Damrosch brings all his fine scholarly attention to the strange world of Stevenson’s fictions and poetry, but also revels in his gloriously outspoken letters and his fraught but intensely vivid friendships. This is a large, beautiful, and mature biographic portrait.”—Richard Holmes, author of The Age of Wonder “Is there a better biographer alive today than Leo Damrosch? His latest, a full-scale biography of Robert Louis Stevenson, is a brilliant storytelling achievement worthy of both its title and the redoubtable subject at its center. Stevenson lived more in his forty-four years than most do in a lifetime.”—Morten Høi Jensen, author of The Master of Contradictions: Thomas Mann and the Making of “The Magic Mountain”