The Paris Wife

“Books could be an incredible adventure. I stayed under my blanket and barely moved, and no one would have guessed how my mind raced and my heart soared with stories.” Paula McLain

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is one of those books about ambition, love and loyalty(or lack thereof) that every writer ought to read once. Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson, fuels the narrative that captures the charms and challenges of being married to him. The Hemingways move to Jazz Age Paris to find their new life together while Ernest worked on his novel, now known as, The Sun Also Rises. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.

Hadley’s roles as a starter wife, a friend and a muse recreate their definitions every single day as Ernest Hemingway learns to balance his soaring ambition amongst the “Lost Generation” of Zelda Fitzgerald and F. Scott. “I was 29, feeling almost obsolete, but Ernest was 21 and white hot with life,” she confides. For obvious reasons, unsympathetic critics had their fun with this version of his untold lifestyle.

This books seems like a natural progression for anyone who has watched this excellent movie, Papa: Hemingway in Cuba, that portrays an array of Hemingway’s relationships towards the end of his life. His friends, his last wife and his writer’s block - all the things that truly mattered to him. While he was a handful himself, unlike the movie, some chapters of McLain’s book remind the readers that even during his struggling years, he used to be a sorted writer once. As someone who has always found inspiration in his work, this fascinates me to no end. Every stubborn writer’s block and every tale of ego drags me back to Ms McLain’s book now.

Pack this fantastic book along for your next train ride. Let ‘The Paris Wife’ teleport you to the train carriage where the restlessness of a young 28 year old gave birth to this sensational piece.