In this novel, McLain tells the story of Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn. Gellhorn was Hemingway's third wife who she met in the late 30s and was married to from 1940 to 1945. But Gellhorn was unlike any of Hemingway's previous wives. She was independent and a writer in her own right and also turned out to be a highly respected journalist and war correspondent. She was with Hemingway during the Spanish Civil War and while he was writing his masterpiece, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Gellhorn was also writing during that time period but her novels and stories could not compete with Hemingway. She went on to cover wars in different parts of the world including Finland, China, Czechoslovakia, France, and Germany. She was the only woman present during the Normandy invasion on D-Day and she also witnesses the liberation of the concentration camp at Dachau.
She and Hemingway lived together at their estate in Cuba and she had a good relationship with Hemingway's three sons from his previous marriages. But when she went off to cover the Italian front during the war, Hemingway felt deserted and their marriage was doomed.
I have read McLain's The Paris Wife about Hemingway's marriage to his first wife, Hadley Richardson, as well as her novel Circling the Sun about Beryl Markham. I enjoyed both of these novels but of the three, Love and Ruin to me was the most engaging. I think it may have been because Gellhorn really had more of a story and life to tell in her own right and was a match for even Hemingway. I also remember seeing and enjoying the movie Hemingway and Gellhorn which starred Nichole Kidman. After reading this, I also want to read more of Hemingway, especially For Whom the Bell Tolls which I have neglected to read, and I would like to read some of Gellhorn's writing as well.
She and Hemingway lived together at their estate in Cuba and she had a good relationship with Hemingway's three sons from his previous marriages. But when she went off to cover the Italian front during the war, Hemingway felt deserted and their marriage was doomed.
I have read McLain's The Paris Wife about Hemingway's marriage to his first wife, Hadley Richardson, as well as her novel Circling the Sun about Beryl Markham. I enjoyed both of these novels but of the three, Love and Ruin to me was the most engaging. I think it may have been because Gellhorn really had more of a story and life to tell in her own right and was a match for even Hemingway. I also remember seeing and enjoying the movie Hemingway and Gellhorn which starred Nichole Kidman. After reading this, I also want to read more of Hemingway, especially For Whom the Bell Tolls which I have neglected to read, and I would like to read some of Gellhorn's writing as well.
