The Paris Wife
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4.1 • 49 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An instant national bestseller, this stunningly evocative, beautifully rendered story told in the voice of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, has the same power and historical richness that made Loving Frank a bestseller.
No twentieth-century American writer has captured the popular imagination as much as Ernest Hemingway. This novel tells his story from a unique point of view - that of his first wife, Hadley. Through her eyes and voice, we experience Paris of the Lost Generation and meet fascinating characters such as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and Gerald and Sara Murphy. The city and its inhabitants provide a vivid backdrop to this engrossing and wrenching story of love and betrayal that is made all the more poignant knowing that, in the end, Hemingway would write of his first wife, "I wish I had died before I loved anyone but her."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McLain's novel covers the marriage of Hadley Richardson and Ernest Hemingway, from their romantic, early years in Paris where they slow danced to the sounds of the accordion drifting up from the apartment below, lunched with Gertrude Stein, and had cocktails with the Fitzgeralds to their marriage growing more complicated as Ernest's literary career takes off. Carrington Macduffie's voice for Ernest is harsh and guttural, which makes him sound less charismatic and makes it difficult for the listener to understand why Hadley puts up with him as long as she does. Macduffie's voice for Hadley is stilted and timid at first Hadley is perpetually fumbling for the right word, but she gradually sounds increasingly self-assured. Macduffie's ability to communicate Hadley's transformation vocally makes for moving listening. A Ballantine hardcover.
Customer Reviews
The Paris Wife
Paula McLain has expertly written an account of Ernest Hemingway’s-Hadley Richardson’s marriage. It is heart-wrenching, beautiful and tragic in equal measures. Her book probes the devotion and undying love Hadley showed for EH until the tragic final curtain. It is a wonderful expose of life in Paris in the roaring 20’s, the characters and the events are brought to life very nicely. Based on factual research, Ms. McLain has written an accurate account that I am very sure Hemingway himself would be proud of.