“I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her”
-- Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
Hadley Richardson is The Paris Wife. Ernest Hemingway is a young man in his early twenties trying to start his career as a writer when he meets and falls in love with Hadley Richardson. This historical fiction novel takes the reader through their quick romance and marriage in Paris in the 1920s. And although Hadley is a young 28 year old woman coming from a repressive childhood in the beginning of the novel, the story takes the reader through her growth as a woman showing how Paris and her relationship with Ernest cultivated this growth.
It naturally goes beyond their marriage to the characters that also worked, created and played in Paris during the same time period; describing Hemingway’s work as a writer and their connections with people like Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
As we prepared to discuss this title for a book discussion I expected a lot of grumbling about Ernest Hemingway and was pleasantly surprised by the enjoyment all the readers got from Hadley Richardson and how it surpassed Ernest’s betrayal. This is a story of young writer’s determination and betrayal, with a lot of alcohol and glittering characters throughout.
Recommended for Adults
No comments:
Post a Comment