The Paris Wife is the story of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson. Hadley is nine years Hemingway’s senior, but he has more life experience. Hadley and Hemingway get married and move to Paris to become part of the writing scene in Europe. Hemingway finds friends and has his writing to keep him busy. Hadley feels like an outsider in his group of friends. She is not part of the literary circle and is placed in the spouse circle. Hadley does not have anything in common with these people except that her husband is an artist.
Hemingway is not an easy person to love. He has emotional trauma from his parents and from his service in World War I. Hadley enjoys her role of helping her husband as he strives to realize his dream of being a famous author. Life can be difficult with the emotionally unstable Hemingway who has bouts of depression.
Hadley wants a baby to have something in her life that she enjoys as much as Hemingway enjoys his writing. She needs a purpose to her life. Hemingway does not want children. He feels that they will take away from his writing and his wife’s support. When she becomes pregnant, he is not happy, but he knows he must support his family and leave Paris so that his wife will have the medical facility she needs when the baby is born. The Hemingways move to Canada for the baby’s birth. They plan to stay there for the first year of the child’s life, but Hadley knows that Ernest needs Paris to thrive. They take the baby back to Paris.
Hadley’s time is spent taking care of their son while Hemingway works on his writing and drinks with his friends. Hadley accompanies him at times but does not spend as much time with her husband as before. As his name begins to become known, his writing changes. Hadley does not like that he writes a book that parodies the work of his one-time mentor, Sherwood Anderson. She does not want him to alienate the people who helped him in his writing career. This difference of opinion in his writing leads him to lean on their friend Pauline Pfeiffer because she supports the book, The Sun Also Rises. His decision to go ahead with the book destroys his friendship with Gertrude Stein, who does not like his treatment of Sherwood Anderson.
Ernest begins an affair with Hadley’s friend, Pauline Pfeiffer. She is young and supports the new direction of his writing. Hadley questions his new vision and does not give the support she once did. Hemingway needs a person’s complete attention and focus. He becomes belligerent when he is not the center of attention. Hadley is focused on motherhood and this leads him to turn to Pauline. Hadley is devastated to learn of their relationship. She trusted Pauline and thought she was his friend.
Ernest wants the three of them to live together as others in his circle have taken to doing. Wives and lovers live together in one home. Hadley will not have this. She loves Ernest and does not want to share him and their life together. She asks for a divorce and he reluctantly agrees. He loves Hadley but needs more attention than she can give him.
Hadley is able to find happiness with someone else, but never forgets her time with Ernest Hemingway. Ernest marries three more times after his divorce of Hadley. He has issues with depression and this affects his relationships. This series of difficulties, arguably, leads him to kill himself. Hadley is sad that his demons finally caught up to him and hopes that he is now at peace.
