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The Paris Wife

A Novel

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The Paris Wife

Written by: Paula McLain
Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
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About this listen

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Hadley.

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet 28-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises.

Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold onto her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. 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.

A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

©2011 Paula Mclain (P)2011 Random House
Biographical Fiction Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Marriage France Emotionally Gripping
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What the critics say

“McLain smartly explores Hadley's ambivalence about her role as supportive wife to a budding genius.... Women and book groups are going to eat up this novel.” (USA Today)

“By making the ordinary come to life, McLain has written a beautiful portrait of being in Paris in the glittering 1920s - as a wife and one's own woman.... McLain's vivid, clear-voiced novel is a conjecture, an act of imaginary autobiography on the part of the author. Yet her biographical and geographical research is so deep, and her empathy for the real Hadley Richardson so forthright (without being intrusively femme partisan), that the account reads as very real indeed.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Written much in the style of Nancy Horan's Loving Frank ... Paula McLain's fictional account of Hemingway's first marriage beautifully captures the sense of despair and faint hope that pervaded the era and their marriage.” (Associated Press)

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Great listen!

The Paris Wife gives voice to an often overlooked perspective--that of the spouse of a famous artist--in this case, Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson. Carrington MacDuffie's narration does not disappoint! Her voice is the perfect vehicle to deliver McLain's poetry-like prose. I was transported to the 1920s post-WWI period in both Chicago and Paris. While initially I felt frustrated by the subjugated role of Hadley in Hemingway's life, as the book progresses the author skillfully portrays her interior world, showing well that while women in the 1920s may not be as independent as many of their 21st century counterparts, their feelings about gender politics and relationships still resonate. Navigating through the stodgy, stifling mores of the day and open relationships in the narcissistic alcohol-fueled environment of the the fabled “Lost Generation” would not have been for the faint of heart, and Hadley Richardson was indeed braver than she might seem at first glance. Highly recommend this book. #Audible1

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