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)

Wonderful

I loved everything about this book. The narration was great and the story is truly interesting and riveting. Great listen.

Really loved this read

I loved everything about this read. I’ve been reading many of Ernest Hemingway‘s books, so to read this from the vantage point of his first wife was very interesting. It’s also the first book in a while where I enjoyed both the narration, the speed of the narrator and style and the story.

A wonderful novel

I never expected to be so emotionally involved with this couple. so well done.

Just fabulous.

Where does The Paris Wife rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This was my first Audible audiobook, and ever since I have been hooked. I loved everything about it, the reading, the history, the glimpse into this post-war, artist-filled Paris, the story of course---loved it all.

What about Carrington MacDuffie’s performance did you like?

Throughout the book I really felt like the author was reading the book, like Mrs. Hemingway was writing and reading the book herself. I don't think it could get better than that.

Any additional comments?

A great book that will give you snippets into the days of Hemingway and his friends, but mostly about his first wife, her trials and tribulations of loving an artist, and so much more. Just a great listen.

McLain Pulled Me into Their Lives and Their Era

I felt like an eyewitness to the heartbreaking love story of Hadley and Ernest as well as the lives of the "lost generation".

Fiction but so real!

Young, I was a Hemingway fan, and this fictional memoir from his first wife hit it!

Classic

This story was beautifully written and I really enjoyed the glimpse into the life of Ernest Hemingway and Hadley.

Informative but not inspiring

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It was a book club book. I don't think I would have finished it if it were a printed book. I personally am not a Heminway fan and the foreshadowing is a little heavy in this book. (

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

if they want a glimpse of what Hemingway's life was like in the early years then yes, but otherwise no, especially if you don't like bull fighting which I detest.

What three words best describe Carrington MacDuffie’s performance?

Ok but not riveting. Needs to learn Spanish pronunciation.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would rent the DVD so I could skip the bull fighting.

Superbly written and well read...

While not the most compelling fare for me, This book waited in my library for almost three years before I made the time for it, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by Paula Mc Clain's superb writing. She delivers a novel based on actual history, which reads as if it were real in nearly every detail. The dialog, the inner thoughts of the characters, and the action, all sound real.

I found this history interesting, and moreover that the excellent writing made me glad I finally gave this a listen.

The reader had a strong steady voice and a a sweet and loving tone that portrayed the aim character, Hadley, in the way I think the author intended. Good work all round.

Beautiful Then As It Is Now

Read this book years ago when it first came out and now revisiting via Audible. A great timepiece capturing the essence of Hadley & Ernest.