Love and Ruin

Love and Ruin by Paula McLain   400 pages

Paula McLain burst onto the literary scene with “The Paris Wife,” and if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading that novel, grab a copy as soon as you can. In that novel, McLain wrote about famed author Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. 

After that book, she thought she was done with Hemingway. However, in a conversation at St. Louis County Library, she told the packed house that she had had a dream about him, after which she felt compelled to tackle the adventurous writer once again.

By this point in his life, Hemingway has had moderate success as a writer, but he had yet to write “A Farwell to Arms,” which catapulted him to superstardom.  It’s 1936. Tensions are starting to run high across Europe as Hitler comes to power. The world is afraid another war is imminent. The Spanish Civil War, however, is in its infant stages

Hemingway loved adventure, and so did Martha (Marty) Gelhorn. A St. Louis-girl, she bucked the conventions of her upper social status. A writer herself, Marty published her first book, “The Trouble I’ve Seen” to rave reviews.

As 1936 turns to 1937, Marty and her mother take a trip to Key West, where she meets Hemingway.  Although they were attracted to each other, Ernest was still married to his second wife, Pauline.

As the war in Spain heated up, Marty talked the editor of “Collier’s” to assign her to cover the conflict as a special correspondent.  She also runs into Hemingway again, and their passion ignites. McLain follows the couple around the world, through their ups and downs, through 1944.

Much like “The Paris Wife” and Melanie Benjamin’s story of the Charles and Anne Morrow  Lindbergh  in “The Aviator’s Wife., I felt like a fly on the wall as I watched two authors try to write under one roof, two people with an adventurous nature coursing through their and two  lovers love and fight.

The only downfall upon reaching the conclusion of “Love and Ruin,” is that readers have to wait for the next Paula McLain novel. Sure hope it’s soon.  “Love and Ruin” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.