I'll get right to the point. In A Wilder Shore by Camille Peri, the author commits three historical writing sins as defined by me. Please focus on the "as defined by me" part. If you read the sins below and decide they are not a big deal, then you may very well find A Wilder Shore enjoyable. The book is about author Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS) and his wife, Fanny. If you don't know who RLS is, then your childhood was robbed from you.

The first sin is understandable to an extent. Peri explains in her intro that Fanny has gotten a bad rap because of her sex and the time she lived in. Peri wants to take another look at her without the sexist lens. This is a wonderful plan! I fully support this! Unfortunately, Peri goes to far the other way. Instead of resurrecting Fanny through analysis and presenting her to the reader as a complex being, Peri excuses nearly all of Fanny's actions. For instance, Peri at one point praises Fanny's writing and then explains away the racist parts as probably the fault of the editors. Which leads me to sin #2.

Supposition. Remember way back when (two sentences ago) where Peri suggests the racist undertones were probably the fault of the editors? Well, this is not a one time thing. Peri repeatedly says things like, "Fanny must have felt," and then projected those feelings onto Fanny or whoever the subject is. Once again, like sin #1, this is not great, but if it is a once or twice occurrence then it can be forgiven. It is not rare in this narrative.

Finally, deadly sin #3. Modern vernacular. Did you ever expect to read a book where RLS is described as letting his freak flag fly? I didn't either, but here we are. Yes, there are many books which make this there motif of using modern words to tell a historical story as a fun anachronism. Peri isn't doing that here. These words and terms are not part of the theme, but merely strange divergences.

Thanks for letting me vent. Ultimately, this was a frustrating read for me (you may have noticed!). The story of the Stevensons is interesting and perhaps without these issues I could have enjoyed it more. Peri did good research in places and her attempt to reframe the relationship between these two people is admirable. The sins just doomed this one for me.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Viking Books.)