The Paris Wife

Hadley and Ernest return to Paris in April 1923. She regains her health and sews baby clothes while he rewrites his lost stories for the Little Review. Hadley reflects that, as she plans for the baby, she has a purpose of her own for the first time.

Ernest shares his new story drafts and his anxieties about fatherhood with Gertrude Stein. He plans a trip to Spain with friends Mike Strater and Bob McAlmon to study bullfighting. By the time they are ready to leave for Spain, the friends are barely speaking. The journey is tense, but Ernest returns to Paris elated and suggests they go to Toronto for the baby’s birth.

In July, they go to Pamplona for the Fiesta de San Fermin. They watch the running of the bulls from a balcony. Hadley walks with Ernest through the streets and remains calm during the bullfights. They discuss parenting and consider naming a son Nicanor.

All summer, Ernest writes bullfighting sketches and corrects proofs for Three Stories and Ten Poems. In the fall, they move to Toronto, and Ernest learns he will report to a difficult editor, Harry Hindmarsh, at the Toronto Star. Hindmarsh sends him on out-of-town assignments despite Hadley’s pregnancy.