''The Paris Wife'' is a 2011

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

novel by Paula McLain which became a ''New York Times'' Bestseller. It is a fictionalized account of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

's marriage to the first of his four wives,

Hadley Richardson Elizabeth Hadley Richardson (November 9, 1891 – January 22, 1979) was the first wife of American author Ernest Hemingway. The two married in 1921 after a courtship of less than a year, and moved to Paris within months of being married. In Paris, ...

. McLain decided to write from Hadley's perspective after reading ''

A Moveable Feast ''A Moveable Feast'' is a 1964 memoir '' belles-lettres'' by American author Ernest Hemingway about his years as a struggling expat journalist and writer in Paris during the 1920s. It was published posthumously. The book details Hemingway's firs ...

'', Hemingway's 1964 posthumously published account of his early years in Paris. McLain researched their biographies, letters, and Hemingway's novels. ''

The Sun Also Rises ''The Sun Also Rises'' is a 1926 novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, his first, that portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bu ...

'' is dedicated to Hadley and their son.

Plot

''The Paris Wife'' focuses on the romance, marriage and divorce of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson, who met when Hemingway was 20 years old, and Richardson 28. They marry and move to Paris soon afterwards, where Hemingway befriends

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

, and

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

. Hadley sees the open marriages/relationships of her husband's friends, and suspects he is having an affair with

Duff Twysden Mary Duff Stirling Smurthwaite, Lady Twysden (22 May 1891 – 27 June 1938) was a British socialite best known for being the model for Brett Ashley in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel ''The Sun Also Rises''.M. C. Rintoul, ''Dictionary of Real Peo ...

until his book ''The Sun Also Rises'' appears and then Hadley realises that their special relationship is because Duff is the spark that ignited Hemingway's first best seller. There are further strains as Hemingway pushes his satire on Sherwood Anderson which his wife's new friend Pauline Pfeiffer approves of—the marriage falls apart when Hemingway begins having an affair with

Pauline Pfeiffer Pauline Marie Pfeiffer (July 22, 1895 – October 1, 1951) was an American journalist, and the second wife of writer Ernest Hemingway.Harris, Peggy (Associated Press) (30 July 2000)Ernest Hemingway Museum Popular in Quiet Farm Town ''The Tusc ...

Reception

''The Paris Wife'' was popular with readers, and "shot to the top of the ''New York Times'' best-seller list soon after its release in 2011." Author Helen Simonson praised the book for "its depiction of two passionate, yet humanly-flawed people struggling against impossible odds—poverty, artistic fervor, destructive friendships—to cling on to each other". On the other hand, literary critic

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

criticized McLain's Richardson as "a stodgy bore".

References

External links

''The Paris Wife'' official site at Random House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris Wife 2011 American novels Novels set in Paris Cultural depictions of Ernest Hemingway Cultural depictions of Ezra Pound Cultural depictions of F. Scott Fitzgerald Cultural depictions of Gertrude Stein Cultural depictions of James Joyce Novels about alcoholism Ballantine Books books