The Paris Wife

Author(s): Paula McLain

Location(s): Europe, North America, Paris

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): 1920s

Location

Content

The book starts out in 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. 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. Hemingway then begins to gain recognition for his writing and pressurise his already fragile marriage. From Chicago to Paris, Spain, Austria and the Cote d’Azure..

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

Winner 2011 Goodreads Best Historical Fiction Category, with 3,123 votes.

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Wow! – emotional rollercoaster

This book is centred around the love and losses of Hadley, the girl who falls passionately in love and continues to stay devoted to Ernest, even though at times, you as the reader, are screaming for her to see...

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A superb recommendation

The book has several locations and some are hugely evocative – the South of France and the bull running in Pamplona, particularly, and there is Schruns in Austria, Northern Italy, and of course Paris. It is the story of...

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Beautifully written book

Author: Charl

I really liked this book, full of love and sadness. Such an interesting time in history and location. I found it a little slow just before the end, but definitely worth a read. The...

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Fascinating

Author: Mariasole

A novel that takes you to another epoque in a Paris (and Cote d’Azur and Spain) full of artists. But it is mostly a love story, a great love of a woman who is...

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The Paris Wife

Author: Ybrow

I have read the other reviews and would agree with them .The book was well written and very sensitive portrayal of both characters and places. It is a book I would have no hesitation...

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Not Just Paris

Author: Bev Bookless

This easy to read book has been well researched and focuses upon Ernest Hemingways marriage to his first wife. It starts in the US but then moves to Paris where they decided to live...

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First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage…

Author: Isabella Orff

First comes love and utter passion. Struggling and making do – at times with the help of well-known people. Ernest is slowly succeeding. As a couple they begin mixing with people who have no...

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“Wife” first, “Paris” second

Quite rightly, this book is mentioned in Wikipedia’s entry on Hadley Richardson as it really gets you inside her head. First and foremost it’s a book about people and their relationships (primarily, but not...

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Roller Coaster journey

This book takes you on a journey of the evolving relationship between Hadley and Ernest as they fall in love and then develop as they mature and start a family. There are times when...

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