Mrs. Hemingway: A Novel
In their own ways and in their own times, Hadley, Pauline, Martha, and Mary all loved Ernest Hemingway. All experienced the passionate days of early courtship, the midsummer lethargy, the chipped-ice daiquiris that became acceptable earlier and earlier in the day. They all knew the sting of betrayal as his notoriously wandering eye eventually turned to another woman, and they all knew the safety of his embrace. They knew how to weather the tides of his creativity, how to support and nourish and heal and mend. While Hemingway’s stories are known worldwide, Wood used copious love letters, diaries, and telegrams to flesh out the stories that these women might have told. Flitting from bohemian 1920s Paris to sunny Havana, from Paris in the days of WWII to 1960s America, Mrs. Hemingway spans eras. Wood’s research gives this passionate story a firm foundation, and readers who enjoyed Loving Frank (2007) and The Paris Wife (2011) will adore this ideal summer read. Seamlessly blending known facts with fiction, Mrs. Hemingway is an absorbing, tender glimpse inside the lives of those in Hemingway’s inner circle. --Stephanie Turza