The selection for the 2012 Big Read is The Paris Wife by Paula McLain!
Hadley Richardson’s marriage to Ernest Hemingway begins, and ends, in Paris.
Paula McLain captures the essence of 1920s Paris, an enclave for artists, writers, and philosophers, and the proving ground for the newly married couple. While Hemingway pursues literary stardom, Hadley struggles to understand her roles—wife, lover, muse, friend, and mother—amidst the challenges of living in a foreign country, among a Bohemian group with values radically different from her own.
The couple’s hard-drinking, fast-moving expatriate lifestyle sparks friendships with Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others, and takes them on skiing trips in Switzerland, hikes throughout Europe, and bull fights in Spain. But in the end, it cannot sustain a marriage burdened by ambition, loneliness, and infidelity.
About the Author:
McLain received a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Michigan and has been a resident of Yaddo and MacDowell Colony, which are working communities specifically for artists of all kinds. She has published two books of poetry Less of Her and Stumble, Gorgeous as well as a memoir Like Family: Growing Up In Other People’s Houses and another novel A Ticket to Ride. McLain currently lives in Cleveland with her family and teaches in the MFA program in Poetry at New England College and at John Caroll University.
A Visit with Paula McLain
Thursday, May 3, 7 p.m. at Ashton Place, 341 75th Street, Willowbrook, IL
Enjoy the personal reflections of Paula McLain as she discusses her motivation for writing the Paris Wife, her painstaking research, and her remarkable ability to immerse herself in this world she created.
Register online (click here) or by calling your home library.
