Paula McLain: Love and Ruin, 9781524798826, Ballantine Books (Penguin Random House USA), paperback, pub date May 1, 2018 

Deutsche Ausgabe: Hemingway & ich - Martha Gellhorn's grosse Liebe, 9783351037451, gebunden, Aufbau Verlag, 5.10.18

After the success of her first novel “The Paris Wife” I guess it was inevitable Paula McLain would return to another of Ernest Hemingway ‘s wives ; the first novel centersing around his first wife Hadley and the second, Pauline. I loved “Paris Wife” and could not wait to read her fictionalized account of Martha Gellhorn and Hemingway’s relationship.

Martha Gellhorn was by far the most equal of his wives, a gutsy, fearless war journalist and writer herself which is precisely what attracted Hemingway to her as did her legendary long legs and blond hair. Martha paved the road of war journalism for many female journalists to come and continued to work as a war reporter herself well into her eighties.  She took her own life at 89, being almost blind and ill.

“Love and Ruin” spans from their first encounter in 1936 until their split up in 1945. When Martha, her brother and mother enter Ernest’s Key West watering hole by chance during their Christmas Key West vacation, little do they know this encounter would change Martha’s life.  Ernest was immediately smitten by Martha although still married to Pauline with whom he had 2 sons.  He tells her of his upcoming trip covering the Spanish war as a journalist and offers her protection after Martha interest is ignited to investigate war journalism herself. She manages to get an assignment by Collier as a first female war reporter and follows Ernest to Spain.  Their initial deep friendship of two like- minded souls quickly turns into a love affair causing Ernest a real dilemma as he is still a married man.  I was already familiar with Hemingway and Gellhorn’s biography and the book stays close to their actual lives taking fictional liberties. Their time in Spain and Cuba was an intense and happy one mostly  although even then Martha saw Ernest’s dark side and jealously which clashed with her continued need to stay independent as a writer and woman,  something Hemingway could not deal with in the end.  Their relationship was not to last ;  Paula McLain does a great job writing up the story of their love.

I enjoyed “Love and Ruin” immensely but for me, Paula McLain’s strongest books still is “Circling the Sun” (!"Lady Afrika" in German) . For my taste Ballantine could have done a much better job with the cover, it is way too smaltzy for the quality of the book.