The Paris Wife

Paula McLain’s 2011 novel, The Paris Wife, is a work of biographical historical fiction that reimagines the marriage of the writer Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson. Narrated largely from Hadley’s perspective, the story chronicles their passionate courtship and their life as American expatriates in Jazz Age Paris as part of the “Lost Generation.” The novel explores themes such as The Competing Demands of Love and Artistic Ambition, Defining the Self in a Man’s World, and The Gradual Erosion of Trust and Intimacy.

McLain was inspired to write the novel after reading Hemingway’s posthumously published memoir, A Moveable Feast, in which he portrays his first marriage with deep affection and regret. The Paris Wife gives voice to a woman largely relegated to the footnotes of literary history, placing her at the center of her own story. This focus is characteristic of McLain’s work, which often explores the lives of notable historical women, as seen in her other novels, Circling the Sun and Love and Ruin. A major commercial success, The Paris Wife became a New York Times and international bestseller, helping to popularize the genre of biographical historical fiction in contemporary literature.

This guide refers to the 2012 Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of death by suicide, suicidal ideation, mental illness, substance use, graphic violence, sexual content, addiction, illness, and death.

Plot Summary

The narrative opens with Hadley Richardson Hemingway reflecting on her life in 1920s Paris with her husband, Ernest Hemingway, and their infant son, John, nicknamed Bumby. Hadley recalls the post-World War I atmosphere of the city, their life in a small apartment above a sawmill, Ernest’s disciplined writing routine, and their vibrant social life in the cafés of Montparnasse. She remembers their marriage being viewed as rare and true by friends, but she foreshadows its end with the arrival of a woman in a “gorgeous chipmunk coat.”

The story returns to the beginning of their story: October 1920 in Chicago, where Hadley, a quiet 28-year-old from St. Louis, is visiting her childhood friend, Kate Smith. At a party, she meets the charismatic 21-year-old Ernest Hemingway and is immediately captivated. They dance and connect instantly. Hadley learns that Ernest is a war hero and an aspiring writer who is boarding in the same apartment where she is staying. Their relationship deepens quickly as Ernest shares his literary ambitions and his traumatic war experiences. Kate warns Hadley that Ernest is a womanizer, revealing a complicated past between them. On Hadley’s last night in the city, Ernest kisses her and promises to write.

After Hadley returns to St. Louis, their intense courtship is carried out through letters. She reflects on her past, recalling a restrictive upbringing, the trauma of her father’s death by suicide, the recent death of her overbearing mother, and the loss of her beloved older sister, Dorothea. Her only previous romantic experience was an unrequited love for her piano teacher.

In a letter, Ernest proposes marriage, suggesting they move to Rome so he can focus on his writing. Hadley accepts and returns to Chicago to meet his family in Oak Park, where she observes a tense dynamic between Ernest and his mother, Grace. That night, Hadley and Ernest sleep together for the first time.

They marry on September 3, 1921, in Horton Bay, Michigan, and honeymoon at the Hemingway family cottage there. After returning to Chicago, they live in a dismal apartment where Hadley discovers that Ernest has depression and war-related nightmares. Following the advice of his friend, the writer Sherwood Anderson, they decide to move to Paris. An unexpected inheritance of $8,000 from Hadley’s uncle provides the necessary funds, and they sail for Europe in December 1921.

In Paris, the couple settles into an apartment next to a dance hall on rue Cardinal Lemoine. While Ernest rents a separate room to write, Hadley establishes a domestic routine and feels homesick. Using Anderson’s letters of introduction, they enter the expatriate literary circle, meeting mentors like Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein.

In the spring of 1922, Ernest is sent on assignment to Genoa, Italy, by the Toronto Star, and Hadley feels intensely lonely during their first separation. Afterward, they holiday in Switzerland with Ernest’s war friend, Chink Dorman-Smith. Back in Paris, a rift forms when Ernest admits that making love sometimes leaves him feeling empty.

Later that year, the Star sends Ernest to Turkey to cover the Greco-Turkish war. Hadley begs him not to go, leading to a terrible argument, and they part on angry terms. He returns to Paris sick with malaria, and he and Hadley reconcile without discussing their fight. Soon after, Ernest is sent to a peace conference in Lausanne. He asks Hadley to join him and mentions that a journalist there wants to see his work. As a surprise, Hadley packs all of Ernest’s work, including originals, drafts, and carbon copies of his stories and a novel, into a single valise, which is stolen at the Gare de Lyon train station.

Devastated, Ernest returns to Paris to confirm the total loss of his work. The couple proceeds with a planned ski trip to Chamby, Switzerland, but Ernest is unable to write. The tension escalates when Hadley reveals she is pregnant, having forgotten her diaphragm in Paris. Ernest is furious, believing a baby will ruin his career. The trip is saved when an editor, Edward O’Brien, accepts Ernest’s only remaining story, “My Old Man,” for publication. The success helps Ernest accept the pregnancy and inspires him to begin writing again.

In August 1923, the Hemingways move to Toronto for the birth of their child. Ernest clashes with his editor at the Toronto Star, who sends him on increasingly remote assignments. On October 9, 1923, while Ernest is away on assignment, Hadley gives birth to their son, John “Bumby” Hadley Nicanor Hemingway. Overwhelmed by his demanding job and unable to write fiction, Ernest becomes severely depressed. Hadley convinces him that they must sacrifice financial security and return to Paris.

Back in Paris, their social circle expands to include Harold Loeb, his girlfriend Kitty Cannell, the charismatic Lady Duff Twysden, and the writers F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. During the 1925 Fiesta de San Fermin in Pamplona, Ernest’s jealousy over Harold’s affair with Duff leads to public arguments. The events inspire him to begin writing a novel that eventually becomes The Sun Also Rises.

Soon after, Kitty introduces Hadley to Pauline Pfeiffer, a wealthy and chic editor for Vogue and the woman in the “gorgeous chipmunk coat” foreshadowed earlier. Ernest is charmed by Pauline’s intelligence and her admiration for his work. Pauline becomes Hadley’s close confidante and Ernest’s literary admirer.

An interlude reveals that she and Ernest begin an affair shortly before she joins the family for their winter holiday in Schruns, Austria. The affair is confirmed to Hadley by Pauline’s sister, Jinny, during a trip to the Loire Valley. When Hadley confronts Ernest, he refuses to end the relationship and suggests they attempt a three-way relationship. This leads to a strained summer in the South of France, where Hadley is forced to tolerate Pauline’s presence, which culminates in Pauline joining Ernest in their marital bed while Hadley feigns sleep.

After another tense trip to Pamplona, Hadley and Ernest agree to separate. Hadley moves into a hotel and proposes a pact: Pauline and Ernest must not see each other or communicate for 100 days, after which Hadley will grant a divorce if Ernest’s feelings remain unchanged. Pauline agrees and returns to the United States.

Lonely, Ernest begins spending nights with Hadley again, even as he professes his continued love for Pauline. Realizing the situation is hopeless, Hadley releases Ernest from the pact and agrees to the divorce. Ernest dedicates The Sun Also Rises to both Hadley and Bumby and signs over all the book’s royalties to her. Their divorce is finalized in the spring of 1927.

In the epilogue, Hadley remains in Paris with Bumby and eventually marries Paul Mowrer, a journalist. Ernest marries Pauline and has two sons with her before divorcing; he goes on to marry two more times. Hadley reflects on their shared past, recalling her last phone conversation with Ernest in 1961, shortly before his death by suicide. He was writing his memoir of their time together, A Moveable Feast, and expressed deep regret for having “ruined” their love. Hadley concludes that although their time together ended, she received the “very best of him.”