I just finished a really good book about Hemingway in Key West from the perspective of a fictional maid/girlfriend while he was married to Pauline:
Hemingway’s Girl
by Erika Robuck
The story also covered the 1935 hurricane that I learned about recently in another book.
I love the setting of Key West and the other places Hemingway lived, Cuba, Paris, etc., and with his four wives, there is plenty of drama to inspire historical fiction. I LOVED the Paula McLain books, one is about Hadley and the other about Martha, and I got to wondering if I have missed any other good books based on these lives.
So, I put together this list of historical fiction inspired by Hemingway and his wives, some of these I have read and some I am putting on my list now.
Books Inspired by Hemingway and His Wives
For your convenience, you can click on the images to view and purchase on Amazon. I also encourage you to patronize your local booksellers and your local library.
“A robust, tender story of love, grief, and survival on Key West in the 1930s.”
“Told in four parts and based on real love letters and telegrams, Mrs. Hemingway reveals the explosive love triangles that wrecked each of Hemingway’s marriages. Spanning 1920s bohemian Paris through 1960s Cold War America, populated with members of the fabled “Lost Generation,” Mrs. Hemingway is a riveting tale of passion, love, and heartbreak.”
“Madrid, 1936. In a city blasted by civil war, six people meet and find their lives changed forever. Ernest Hemingway, his career stalled, his marriage sour, hopes this war will give him fresh material and new romance; Martha Gellhorn, an ambitious novice journalist hungry for love and experience, thinks she will find both with Hemingway in Spain.”
“A gripping, novelistic exploration of Hadley’s personality and her role in Hemingway’s life, finally unclouding our view of Hemingway’s relationship with the one woman he never stopped loving.”
“A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures the love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.”
This book is one of my favorite re-reads as I noted in a previous post.
“The story of Martha Gellhorn—a fiercely independent, ambitious woman ahead of her time, who would become one of the greatest war correspondents of the twentieth century.”
My previous post on Love and Ruin.
“The Hemingway Sisters of Cold River, Missouri are local legends. Raised by a mother obsessed with Ernest Hemingway, they were named after the author’s four wives—Hadley, Pfeiffer, Martha, and Mary. The sisters couldn’t be more different—or more alike. Now they’re back in town, reunited to repair their fractured relationships.”
“A moving testimony to the power of literature to bring people together in even the most difficult of circumstances.”
“After big-time Hemingway fan Jack Phelan falls into a coma following an accident, he somehow finds himself in Key West, Florida, literally rubbing shoulders with his longtime hero.”
Finally, this one isn’t about a wife (to his regret) but the woman he met first:
Did I miss any good books about Hemingway and his wives/loves? If so, let me know in the comments below.