My renewed interest in the great writer Hemingway was ignited when I read the revised edition of A Moveable Feast, released in 2009, so when I learned that The Paris Wife chronicles the years that the writer spent in Paris with his first wife, Hadley, new interest arose. Those readers who love to read about the lives of famous writers will be intrigued, as will those who always enjoy historical fiction.

Largely based on facts that Paula McLain uncovered about the exciting and tumultuous times of the writer in the ’20s in Jazz Age Paris,  this new release opens a window, not only into the lives of the Hemingways and their adorable baby, whom they nicknamed “Mr. Bumby,” but also into the lives of such well known personalities as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein among others. Those readers who have studied this time period already know of the magic, excitement, and intellectual pursuits which characterized the expatriates’  lives. The Paris Wife rounds out the picture with eloquence and carefully researched details.

Told from the point of view of Hadley, the first wife, or the “Paris wife”, this novel gives an “up close and personal” view of  Hemingway, the man, and his newly emerging career. As he and Hadley travel throughout Europe, and particularly Spain, the reader watches as the writer gathers details for his first short story collection In Our Time, and for his first novel The Sun Also Rises.

Hemingway’s 1921 passport used to travel with Hadley. (Photo: JFK Library.)

Since Hadley tells the story, we see the events through her eyes and feel her pain when the writer becomes moody and irritable and unfaithful.We also see her joy and pride as her husband rises in fame. The reader feels as if he or she is right there on the scene, watching through a peep hole encountering the private life of one of the world’s best writers as Hemingway develops his art, draws friends, and repulses new enemies. I could hardly put this book down in order to eat or sleep!

Hadley Richardson Hemingway 1891-1979. (Photo: JFK Library.)

Nancy Horan, best selling author of Loving Frank says,

“The Paris Wife is mesmerizing. Hadley Hemingway’s voice, lean and lyrical, kept me in my seat, unable to take my eyes and ears away from these young lovers.Paula McLain is a first rate writer who creates a world you don’t want to leave. I loved this book.”

Here’s hoping that Paula McLain, who received her MFA from the University of Michigan and has already written another novel, as well as collections of poetry, will take on the research it would take to look into the lives of  Hemingway’s other three wives and tell their stories. Just think of the uniqueness of a  collection like that, if she should do so. I know that I’d be reading all of them.

I highly recommend this novel The Paris Wife. We have already sold over a dozen copies even though the book has only been at Lemuria for a week or so. Nationally, The Paris Wife is also doing well. I am sure that I will chose it for our book club “Atlantis” as one of the future selections.

The Paris Wife by Paul Mclain (Random House/Ballantine, 2011)

A Moveable Feast is a collection of essays concerning the years of 1921-26 when Hemingway was in Paris with Hadley. Published posthumously, the 1964 first edition of A Moveable Feast opens with this memorable quotation:

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”

-Ernest Hemingway, to a friend, 1950

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1964)

See Lisa’s blog on the 2009 edition of A Moveable Feast.

See Norma’s blog on her Unexpected Trip to Hemingway’s Key West Home

-Nan

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