Review: Love and Ruin

Title: Love and Ruin

Author: Paula McLain

Publisher: 1 May 2018 by Hachette (Australia)

Pages: 400 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: historical fiction

My Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

In 1937, courageous and independent Martha Gellhorn travels to Madrid to report on the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, and finds herself drawn to the stories of ordinary people caught in devastating conflict. She also finds herself unexpectedly - and uncontrollably - falling in love with Ernest Hemingway, a man already on his way to being a legend. In the shadow of the impending Second World War, and set against the tumultuous backdrops of Madrid, Finland, China, and especially Cuba, where Martha and Hemingway made their home, their relationship and professional careers ignite.

But when Hemingway publishes the biggest literary success of his career, they are no longer equals, and Martha must make a choice: surrender to the suffocating demands of a domestic lifestyle, or risk losing her husband by forging her way as her own woman and writer. It is a dilemma that will force her to break his heart, and her own.

The internationally bestselling author of The Paris Wife returns to the timeless subject of Ernest Hemingway in this story of his passionate, volatile third marriage to Martha Gellhorn, an ambitious, fiercely independent, beautiful blonde who became one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century.

My Thoughts

“Ernest always said there was a season for everything. A season to love and be loved. To work and rest your bones and your spirit. To dream and to doubt, to fear and to fly. What season was this, then, if not one of ruin?”

Love and Ruin - what a perfect  title for this book! Having read Paula’s books before, I was highly anticipating this read. She did not let me down, once again presenting a strong, independent woman and her compelling tale. Her first story centred around Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson; second was Beryl Markham in Circling the Sun. This book is likewise historical fiction, however, I am loving this new genre that has become popular of late where the story is based on fact and real lives. Here is the story of Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, who would eventually become his third wife. This story appealed to me because I was intrigued to see yet another side/point of view of the enigmatic Hemingway. What I did not bank on, was learning so much about the amazing Martha Gellhorn who refused to be a ‘footnote’ in Hemingway’s life and was an incredibly brave and strong woman for her time.

“He was at the center of a whirlwind. He was the whirlwind, making it go.”

Historical fiction lovers appreciate a well researched piece - Paula succeeds here once again. Her research is thorough, with amazing attention to detail, as she takes the reader to an array of locations - Madrid, Cuba, Finland and so many more - each making you feel that you are there right along with ‘Marty’ (Martha) and, what an amazing journey this would prove to be! There is so many major historical events, not overwhelming so, that you will learn much and truly deepen your understanding from a personal perspective of some major conflicts the world has experienced. Yes, you have front row seats to Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway evolving and tumultuous relationship, but also, a ticket to everything from the Spanish Civil War and other major locations in WWII. So even though this is a fictional account, it feels like a personal memoir the writing is that good! You can’t help but support Marty on her quest to do ‘something’ in making the world aware of tragic events. This is a sign of a good regaled tale that sees you reaching for your device to Google in a desperate measure to learn more and see if all recounted is true. You will go beyond this book, as it instills in you an appreciation of all that happened and a desire to learn more still.

“It feels important to go everywhere one can and see all there is to see and try to understand it. Everything’s changing so fast. I want to believe in something while there’s still time. I want to tell the truth, even when it’s difficult. And I want to find the story I’m meant to write.”

I now need to dedicate some time to Marty Gellhorn herself as I just found her fascinating. I found some of the best parts of the book to be her independent travels as a war correspondent. Her quest to tell the ‘untold tale’ of the suffering of ordinary people was commendable in the least, she would be the voice of their injustice - this is when she was most alive and at her best. She will take you on some memorable journeys, for example, her being the only woman to land at Normandy on D-day or her talking to Russians POWs in Finland will stay with me for some time. All of this in a time when women were to be at home keeping their husband happy. And herein lies the issue with her and Hemingway. Two such like souls, and she undoubtedly loved him, but she had to be true to who she was and he could not appreciate that in the long run - the only wife who would ultimately leave him - as he would have torn away her very soul.

“I want him, but he’s such a force of nature. He pulls everything into his orbit and seals off the corners and any route of escape. He does it all without trying”

Upon completion I was googling, watching videos, reading up extracts from both of these writers (I remember reading For Whom the Bell Tolls at school) and looking for more detail on wartime events. The best historical fiction books will make you do this! Hats off to Paula McLain who has written a wonderful story here, not just about the relationship between Ernest and Martha, but also the passion of one woman to pursue and perhaps surpass the man she refused to be a ‘footnote’ too! I can’t wait to see who Paula will introduce us to next.

“To feel the world rise up and shake you hard, insisting that you rise, too, somehow. Some way. That you come awake and stretch, painfully. That you change, completely and irrevocably –with whatever means are at your disposal –into the person you were always meant to be.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

Title: Circling the Sun
Author: Paula McLain
Publisher:  Ballantine Books (July28, 2015)
ISBN: 9780345534187

Pages: 384 pages

How I Read It: eARC

Genre: historical fiction, Africa
My Rating: 4.5 cups 

Synopsis:

Paula McLain, author of the phenomenal bestseller The Paris Wife, now returns with her keenly anticipated new novel, transporting readers to colonial Kenya in the 1920s. Circling the Sun brings to life a fearless and captivating woman—Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who as Isak Dinesen wrote the classic memoir Out of Africa.

Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.

Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.

Set against the majestic landscape of early-twentieth-century Africa, McLain’s powerful tale reveals the extraordinary adventures of a woman before her time, the exhilaration of freedom and its cost, and the tenacity of the human spirit.

My Thoughts:

"Before Kenya was Kenya, when it was millions of years old and yet still somehow new, the name belonged only to our most magnificent mountain."

With that first line of Chapter 1 Paula McLain drew me in and never let me go until the final page was turned. So begins her account of the life of Beryl Markham, a remarkable and resilient woman who became the first licensed female racehorse trainer in Kenya as well as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west. This book begins with her unconventional upbringing in Africa and culminates with that famous flight in 1936. In between, we are witness to her successes and failures, triumphs and tragedies, loves and losses, and through it all, her deep and lasting connection to the country that became her home.

"I had come alive here, as if I'd been given a second birth, and a truer one. This was my home, and though one day it would all trickle through my fingers like so much red dust, for as long as childhood lasted it was a heaven fitted exactly to me. A place I knew by heart. The one place in the world I'd been made for."

McLain tells her tale with prose that is rich and immersive, full of breathtaking descriptions of the African landscape and thought-provoking passages that make one stop and ponder and then read them over again to savor every word. I knew nothing about Beryl Markham before reading this book, but it soon had me searching the internet to learn more about this fascinating woman. She was flawed and not always the most likable person, and yet, one could not help but be on her side because of her sheer determination and tenacity.

"But you've never been afraid of anything, have you?"
"I have, though," I said, surprised at my own emotion. "I've been terrified...I just haven't let that stop me."

It's hard not to admire such strength of will, particularly given the attitudes of the time, for she was unquestionably the master of her own fate and refused to be forced into a box or restricted by societal norms. She made her share of bad decisions, for which she paid the price - failed marriages, scandalous affairs - but time and again was able to rise from the ashes like a phoenix to recreate herself and move on in a new direction. A quality she shared with the land she so loved:

"It's always new. It always seems to be reinventing itself, doesn't it?"

"Kenya was forever shedding its skin and showing itself to you all over again."

Fans of Out of Africa will appreciate the further insight into Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton given here as well as the interesting dynamics within the love triangle that existed between the three. However, even readers unfamiliar with that work will have no trouble following the story and should find great enjoyment in this book in its own right. I must confess I fall into that category, and I don't feel my appreciation was hindered in any way. I loved this book from cover to cover. And ultimately, while her relationship with Finch Hatton may have been the great romance of Beryl's life, it was only one part of her extraordinary life. All things considered, it seems perhaps her truest and most enduring love affair was actually with Africa itself, for it was there her free spirit was able to soar.

"...Leaving Kenya? I've never thought of that. I wouldn't be the same anywhere else."

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.