The Paris Wife

A Novel

By: Paula McLain

Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie

Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Critic reviews

“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)

A delight for Hemmingway fans

If you've read Hemmingway, you'll find a this book of his life a poinient broken mirror in many pieces depecting many events from his novels in his real life through the eyes of his wife. Beautifully painted famous characters and scenes from Chicago to France among others!

Great story for Hemmingway lovers

Well researched and well written story. I was engrossed the entire time. Definitely one you should check out!

Tugs on heart strings!

What a beautiful book. Written so gently. Giving space for people to make choices and the aftermath. The pain and torture by the beauty that comes from it.

this is a novel that reads like a memoir

I enjoyed reading about post WWI life in Europe. Even though this is a work of fiction,
I felt that I learned much about Ernest Hemingway and the writers of that era.

great story

loved it! Beautiful story-based on facts, but essentially fictional, beautiful narration; really captured the atmosphere of those times.

Interesting story but read like the nightly news

I found myself so distracted by the horrible narration that I couldn't connect as well with the actual story. Very disappointing but still over all a fascinating story for a fascinating life.

Enjoyable perspective of Hemingway's time

Well written and performed about a fascinating time in American/European history with tidbits about famous artists of that era. Too bad audible books aren't accompanied by photos that would deepen the experience.

Wine women and song = page after page

Any additional comments?

The story of Hemmingway as told through the voice of his first wife, Hadley. I felt I was going to learn a lot about a great American author whom I knew little about and whose work I was not very familiar with. I learned Hemingway is not a likeable man - A womanizer to the point where he expected his wife to move in with him and his lover and enjoy the 'conveniences' of the threesome. An alcoholic - every event every day is described in terms of the drink that accompanied it - champagne breakfasts, absinthe with friends etc etc. I reserve judgement on his novels as I am about to start The sun also rises.
The Paris Wife limps along from one scene to the next showing Hemingway indulging in wine, women and song. We move from one town to the next to explore which women he was lusting after and which drinks he was partaking of. I marveled at the patience of his wife, grew irritated at him and his faults, and wished the book would come to an end.

So-So book with an horrible narrator

Would you recommend The Paris Wife to your friends? Why or why not?

I wouldn't recommend it. I read Circling the Sun by Paula McLain first and I really enjoyed it but I can't say the same about this book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I listen to many audible books and this narrator was by far the worst that I have encountered. I was going to return it after a few chapters but decided to finish it. The narrator's voice was grating. She made me hate the character of Hadley. It's one of a few books that I would have preferred to read. I would never listen to anything else read by this narrator.

Excellent

This is a wonderfully written book, and the narrator is perfect, she's does all the characters beautifully. It starts out a bit slow, but stick with it, because after a while, you don't want to stop listening.