The Paris Wife
On sale
5th January 2012
Price: £16.99
Richard & Judy Book Club, 2012
Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a shy twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness when she meets Ernest Hemingway and is captivated by his energy, intensity and burning ambition to write. After a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for France. But glamorous Jazz Age Paris, full of artists and writers, fuelled by alcohol and gossip, is no place for family life and fidelity. Ernest and Hadley’s marriage begins to founder, and the birth of a beloved son serves only to drive them further apart. Then, at last, Ernest’s ferocious literary endeavours begin to bring him recognition – not least from a woman intent on making him her own . . .
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
As much about life and how we try to catch it as it is about love even as it vanishes . . . utterly absorbing
With vivid, memorable touches . . . McLain captures Hemingway's legendary charisma, and his fatal tendencies
[A] beautifully imagined novel . . . sharp, unsparing and delivered in a pared-down prose that the great man himself would have applauded
A beautiful portrait of being in Paris in the glittering 1920s - as a wife and as one's own woman
Hadley is a deeply touching character, dignified even as she loses almost everything she's loved, and making her goodness both convincing and interesting is an impressive feat