The kindness of sisters Book

This was an odd yet intriguing historical account of Byron's marriage and his supposed relationship with his half-sister, but more than focusing on each woman's relationship to Byron, this focused on their relationship to each other as foils of each other. Annabella was to save him from himself by bringing in good English respectability while Augusta represented his corruption with all that is taboo and possibly his own love for himself above all others. I think what was odd for me was that I couldn't decide how "academic" this book was. In part, it reads like it's for a reader with already a significant knowledge of Byron's biography, yet the imagined dialogue between the two women calls into question the supposed academic "truth" factor of the work. I found the dialogue interesting and engaging, but at the end I wasn't sure if it was really necessary. It set up the remainder of the story, I suppose, but couldn't that have been done in a different way if this was going to be an academic study? Likewise, if this was going to be for the general reader, I feel like it needed more about why Byron held the public imagination in the way the author claims. Yes, he was a celebrity, but this book takes it for granted that we still know why, something that even as a Victorian lit scholar, I couldn't say that I fully understand.
From the opening scene in the vault, it just felt like there was a call here to the mysterious and the illicit yet not enough time spent either explaining it or giving in to the mystery. It was like I wanted this to be a book that it wasn't - either the academic account that was easy to follow or the exploration and even celebration of Byron's scandal. If this is supposed to be a full exploration of Annabella, why so much attention paid to Byron? Ultimately, I'm just not sure she was presented as interesting enough to warrant a biography of this nature. The author claims that she's this fascinating figure, yet at the end, I wasn't all that fascinated. Overall, this held my interest but I can't say that I care to learn more about these figures which is a marker for me of a good historical account. Perhaps a Romanticist might have something else to say, but for me, just not compelling enough.