The Paris Wife

How do McLain’s strategic shifts between Hadley’s first-person and Ernest’s limited third-person narration complicate the novel’s exploration of loyalty and betrayal and challenge a one-sided understanding of the marriage’s collapse?

How does the contrast between Hadley’s emotional support and Pauline Pfeiffer’s intellectual collaboration reveal the evolving and increasingly consuming nature of Ernest’s artistic ambition?

Trace Hadley’s journey of discovering her identity by analyzing three key moments of action or dissent: the trek over the Great St. Bernard Pass, her refusal to jump from the diving rock, and her decision to unilaterally end the 100-day pact.