The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

My most recent read is a book about Ernest Hemingway’s first wife – Hadley Richardson. The two met in Chicago, 1920. She was 8 years Ernest’s senior. She had lived a very sheltered life in St. Louis (having been sheltered by a mother fairly worried and even obsessed about Hadley’s health) until her mother died and she paid a visit to a childhood friend in Chicago. There she met Hemingway and after a whirlwind courtship, the two married and moved to Paris. It was during this time that Ernest struggled to become noticed and where he wrote The Sun Also Rises. The two lived the high life (though they struggled financially) rubbing elbows with the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda; John Dos Passos; Ezra Pound; Gertrude Stein and many more. The Roaring 20s were well underway and they lived it up to the fullest: drinking, travelling, going to Spain for the annual bullfight etc. They had a child and as often happens when a life seems so out of control, their marriage fell apart.

I really liked this book (5 stars). It is a definite must read, although I was exhausted just reading about all the boozing and dancing and more boozing this “lost generation” did. And though it wasn't a book about Ernest Hemingway so to speak, it made me want to read Ernest Hemingway again because it gave me better insight about who he was and why he wrote the way he did – glorifying such things as war and drinking and bullfighting and generally living a life out of control. Mostly, however, I loved Hadley Richardson and I felt bad for her because it was so easy to see from the minute she met Ernest Hemingway, she was on the road to hurt and loss. Such a man could never be happy or content with any ONE thing. (And this wasn't due to mental illness for he certainly suffered from that). She was always at risk for personal disaster but seeing it, she still powered through and fought. In a way, when her marriage ended, I believe Hadley finally found herself. Her whole life with Ernest was Ernest and only Ernest and when he moved on to something more exciting, she was finally able to live a fuller life. Read this...you will enjoy!