Another highly readable novel from Paula McLain! Loved returning to Hemingway (and more importantly, the women around him) and learning about what it was like to be a war correspondent during WWII. I didn't find L&R to be as engaging as The Paris Wife or Circling the Sun; there was a lot of detail about some things, while whole periods seemed to be glossed over. The story, though, is a compelling one, and I'm glad to know more about Martha Gellhorn!

Gellhorn and Hemingway Find Love in the War Torn Spain

A chance meeting in a bar in Key West in 1936 began a friendship and ultimately marriage between Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn. Martha was a novice writer hoping to become famous. She couldn’t help being drawn to the charismatic Hemingway. Their friendship progressed through phone calls until Ernest announced his intention to go to Spain as a war correspondent.

Martha couldn’t resist the call of adventure. She followed Hemingway to Spain with fifty dollars and a backpack. Martha caught up with Hemingway in Madrid. She still saw him as a friend, but the attraction was strong and soon they were lovers. Being the partner of a famous man wasn’t easy for Martha, an independent woman who wanted her own career.

They married in 1940 and had happy years writing in Havana. Then Hemingway’s most famous book, For Whom the Bell Tolls, was published, and Martha found herself eclipsed by his fame. They struggled for awhile, but the marriage eventually ended in divorce and Martha went on to be a famous war correspondent.

This is a thoroughly engrossing book. I thought the author did an excellent job portraying two strong characters each striving for their own success, but trying to stay together. The book is fiction, but so well done that you can feel the tension of real people.

I did have trouble with some of the author’s descriptions. She seemed to be trying too hard to find unusual ways to describe what Martha was seeing. The descriptions were sometimes so unusual that they broke the flow of the story while I tried to figure out what she was trying to show.

On the whole, this is a very good book. If you enjoy fiction based on the lives of real people, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

Paula McLain tells the story of Martha Gellhorn with admiration and passion. Gellhorn was a celebrated writer and war correspondent through the greater part of the twentieth century. She was also the third, but not final, wife of Ernest Hemingway.

Early on in the book, McLain tells a story of Gellhorn's mother waiting at the door for her obstetrician husband to come home. She would drop everything she was doing to arrive at the bottom of the stairs to welcome him. This is a perfect metaphor for the world in which Hemingway and Gellhorn were raised, although it was also a time when women were spreading their career wings, and being met with some encouragement.

It is no wonder that Gellhorn and Hemingway’s marriage failed to thrive, when their expectations for each other were so at odds. Their is no “happily ever after” ending for them, but Gellhorn did go on to a long and productive career, while Hemingway’s went on to a troubled life ended by his suicide.

"Why is it that a man can do his work and just get on with it, but a woman has to drop everything for her place at home or else she's selfish?"

I actually liked this book more than I expected because it focused on the frequently-faced problem of whether a woman can still have a career after marriage. Martha Gellhorn was a budding war correspondent when she met Ernest Hemingway, who was nine years her senior and already on his second wife with whom he had two sons.

Judging Hemingway by today's sexual behavioral standards, especially from #MeToo's perspective, he could definitely be accused of sexual harassment in the way he came on to Gellhorn while they were covering the Spanish Civil War--lurking outside her room, whispering and knocking at the door like a dog in heat, coming in uninvited, plying her with whiskey. Sure she fell for him, but that doesn't much excuse the behavior!

Hemingway admittedly gave Gellhorn a leg up professionally but once they were married things soon became competitive. Can two writers and their egos make a successful marriage? Apparently not. 'Love and Ruin' is a very fitting title.

Hemingway began talking about having a daughter with her since he already had three sons, but Martha wasn't much interested. He wanted his wife to stay home by his side but Martha had had the wanderlust since she was a child. What he admired in her before they were married, he now wanted to change. He wanted to tame her, enchain her.

I'm glad this book wasn't so much about Hemingway as about Gellhorn who went on to become a famous war correspondent, journalist and writer in her own right. The best parts of this novel are those in which Martha is experiencing war firsthand, talking to people and reporting on their experiences for Collier's. "I'm interested in people. Governments and world leaders should be punished. Not men."

McLain limited Hemingway's pov to small, infrequent sections that really didn't add much to the story. He had such a big personality and ego--he could easily take over any situation. But he'd met his match in Martha Gellhorn and didn't much like it when he couldn't mold her to fit his vision of what a good wife should be.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for allowing me access to an arc of this very interesting novel.

Much has been written about Ernest Hemingway and his wives but no-one writes about them better than Paula McLain, whose new novel is about Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn. I thought that this author's debut novel, The Paris Wife, was a wonderful book; it told the story of the young Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. The author beautifully captured Hadley's voice. When I started Love and Ruin, I wondered if Ms. McLain would be able to again capture the essence of an historical character...she does!
Martha Gellhorn and Hemingway initially meet in Florida. They become closer when traveling to Spain during the Civil War, a war which is hearbreakingly portrayed in the novel. Hemingway and Gellhorn travel together to Cuba, Florida, Europe during WWII, Utah, etc. with each locale coming alive. World events unfurl in their presence.
This is also the story of a relationship; what is it like to be in the orbit of a truly charismatic person? Is that enough? How does one maintain a sense of identity? Gellhorn, a writer and reporter of merit, struggles as a relationship of equals becomes less so. There is love and yes, ruin, in the coming together and apart of these two historical personages. The reader is a witness to the joys and struggles of this couple.
I highly recommend Love and Ruin. It is one of the finest historical novels that I have read.

Paula McLain has written another outstanding novel about, what appears to be, one of her favorite subjects, Ernest Hemingway but also introduces Martha Gellhorn, a very strong and independent young writer.
Like her previous novel, The Paris Wife, McLain uses the voice of Hemingway's love interest, in this case writer/journalist Marty Gellhorn, to tell the story. Unlike The Paris Wife, if my memory serves me correctly, the reader is now exposed to Hemingway's thoughts, through italicized chapters, which makes him less of a predator cad and more of a sympathetic, complicated and troubled sort of man.
Marty first meets Hemingway by chance in one of his Key West haunts while traveling with her mother. He is cordial and charming as he gives them a tour of Key West and then to visit his home and family. As an accomplished author he offers his help to the struggling young writer even arranging connections for her to reach war torn Madrid to cover the front lines for Collier's. He'll be there too, of course, to help a friend film a movie to raise money for ambulances.
Marty is conflicted when Hemingway makes advances towards her. She's met his wife and sons, after all. But being Hemingway she can't hold him off for long and their illicit love affair commences.
Mclain's clear and concise writing takes their years together to the Spanish Civil War, happy, lazy days in Cuba, sailing towards the gulf stream on Hemingway's fishing boat, Pilar. With the advent of World War II, their relationship sours, Gellhorn has the opportunity to report from the European Theater leaving Hemingway alone to wrestle his demons but he's a vindictive character and has a talent for getting things his way. As the title of this novel implies, all good things come to an end but what a time it was.
McLain's writing is top notch and gives those with wanderlust an enjoyable read through an historical era and for those who want to more clearly gain some knowledge into Hemingway's troubled soul something to chew on and consider.

Love and Ruin
by Paula McLain (Goodreads Author)
6482072
Heather Fineisen's review Apr 28, 2018 · edit
really liked it

A languid imagining of the relationship between Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway. Not only a love story, but a depiction of war and chaos of the time, as Gellhorn travels as one of the first female correspondents. The unravelling of their relationship is raw and angry and inevitable. This is McLain' s second novel about the women in Hemingway' s life and the novel reflects the knowledge of the subject.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

I loved "The Paris Wife" so I was really looking forward to reading this book. Although I've read almost everything Hemingway has written, I knew very little about Martha Gellhorn other than her labeled the homewrecker of his marriage to Pauline. Ms. McClain does a masterful job of giving a powerful voice to a woman who had accomplished so much in her own name: a war correspondent in the Spanish Civil War, a journalist, a novelist, a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. Unfortunately for Martha, she was also in love with Ernest Hemingway and this fact appears to have overshadowed all of her individual accomplishments. He was jealous of any of her assignments, though she was expected to accompany him anywhere at the drop of a hat. Eventually, she decided that she was not going to conform to this role, even though that was the norm for a wife at the time.

Ms. McClain does a wonderful job of describing the events she experienced; her feelings as she saw a little boy blown to pieces in front of his mother by Franco's army was something that really brought the reality of war home for her. After reading this book, I wonder what might have been for Martha had she not allowed Hemingway into her hotel room in Spain. I believe her love for him was truly her ruin and this book captures this in painstaking detail.

** Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. My review is voluntary.

The historical novel Love and Ruin portrays the story of Martha Gellhorn and her stormy relationship with Ernest Hemingway. Martha Gellhorn was a strong female journalist who went after what she wanted in both love and career. I found Love and Ruin to be compelling from beginning to end and will be recommending it to my book clubs.

Enjoyable historical fiction novel following Martha (Marty) Gellhorn, the most popular female war correspondent in the 19th century and Ernest Hemingway’s third wife. I really enjoyed learning more about the couple and Marty’s bravery and drive visiting many war countries during conflicts. She wanted to change the world. It was also interesting reading about her and Hemingway’s relationship, both being writers and the competitiveness Gellhorn had to deal with given Hemingway’s personality and popularity.
Fans of McClain will enjoy this book.

First let me start off by saying I loved Circling the Sun by Paula McLain. 5 out of 5 stars! I never read the Paris wife so was excited to receive the arc for this book about war correspondent, Martha Gellhorn, and her passionate but stormy relationship with Ernest Hemingway during the civil war in Madrid. I loved the beginning and could relate to Gellhorn’s relationship with her parents and her drive to prove herself to her father. Then about 20 percent in I found myself skimming through the text. 40 percent in I stopped reading, which I rarely do. I did not find myself connecting with Martha any longer. I do believe there is an audience out there that will LOVE this book. Paula McClain is a beautiful writer. I will not give up on her and look forward to reading and reviewing her next book!

I loved Paula McLain's novel Circling the Sun- but I had a hard time connecting to this one. I came into it more familiar with the Hemingway/Gelhorn relationship and it's ending though I didn't know many of the details and maybe that was the issue.
I think it took a little too long to get started and while the "love" did have it's moments the career competition, the writing and especially the ruin was much more interesting overall. She does a great job there of really showing how the personalities worked, or didn't in this case, and the cracks that were always there. Even though I really didn't connect with the romance and felt the book took to long to get going I do appreciate that I understood why Gelhorn went for him (why anyone would).
So it's an interesting well-written book that I would recommend. I just didn't connect with it myself and felt something was missing in the beginning. I think maybe if I wasn't waiting for the ruin I would have liked it more. Though I still liked the book and will definitely be reading more by this author.

Paula McClain has done it again. She has written an absorbing, fascinating tale of the relationship between Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn. More than that, it is a portrait of Martha Gellhorn. McClain gets us inside Gellhorn's head and heart as she navigates her career in a male dominated field, and her relationship and marriage to a dominant male. Love and Ruin is beautifully written and was a joy to read. I will continue to pick up McClain's books. They are consistently good!

I grew up reading Ernest Hemmingway and loved The Paris Wife so I was drawn to this book. The stormy relationship between Ernest and Martha reads like something of modern time even though it takes place in 1930s.
Martha Gellhorn was Hemmingway’s third wife and his mistress. Martha has always been painted in a negative light and I have never been a fan of that so I was excited to read Paula writing her in a different light. I know that this is a fiction novel but I feel that sometimes a strong man over powers a woman and if that woman is strong that she is painted in a negative light.
The writing in this book is amazing and I look forward to read more from Paula McLain.

This story has such an interesting premise, one of the first female war journalists on the front lines of WWII in several countries such as Spain, China, and Finland. Additionally, the women's rights issue of the struggle between career and marriage to a successful professional writer. However, the writing is lukewarm, there is no real feeling in the story. Because of all the sacrifices she makes, I think she loves him but I don't get a sense either way. Hopefully someone else will find a way to enjoy this fascinating look at Ernest Hemingway and his third wife. Thank you NegGalley for the ARC.

Martha Gellhorn is fascinating- and would have been so even without her tie to Ernest Hemingway. Having loved The Paris Wife, I'm so glad Paula McLain returned to Hemingway long enough to tell Martha's story. I'm a little sad that I didn't know about Martha before reading this book- she was an incredibly talented and accomplished writer. The book is a fascinating look at Martha's life during the time period she was involved with and married to Hemingway. Gellhorn seems to have been prolific in her writing during this time, and her fervor to dive into battles as war raged around her to tell the stories that were happening radiated off the page. While McLain did a great job telling the story of Martha and Ernest's tumultuous, competitive, passionate relationship, for this reader, the story really shines when she is telling of Martha's fierce drive to report on World War II and the lengths she goes to in order to be there. Love and Ruin was a fiercely engaging and wonderful look at a period in the life of a woman who should be remembered far more than she is.

Paula McLain is an outstanding historical fiction writer, and her three most recent novels have transported me to a vividly recreated time and place with very real and well-drawn characters. “Circling The Sun” was one of my favorite books of 2015. However, because “Love and Ruin” and “The Paris Wife” highlighted Hemingway’s abysmal treatment of women, particularly his wives, those books weren’t a comfortable read for me. That’s no reflection on McLain’s writing skill, in fact it’s a testament to it. The pain that Hemingway caused Martha and Hadley was written so realistically that I frequently wanted to punch Hemingway in the face, or some other body part. When I could put Hemingway’s behavior in the back of my mind and focus on Martha (and Hadley), I really enjoyed both “Love and Ruin” and “The Paris Wife.”

My review was posted on Goodreads on 4/25/18.

I must confess I started the Paris Wife by Paula McLain, but didn't finish it. After reading Love and Ruin, I need to go back and try it again. It was the content, not the writing that I had a problem with. There are some similarities in Paris Wife and Love And Ruin. They are both stories about Ernest Hemingway, his love life, infidelity, his marriage and again infidelity. Love and Ruin is the story of Hemingway and his third love and marriage to Martha Gellhorn. She became one of the greatest war correspondents of the twentieth century. Beginning when she met Ernest in late 1936, traveling to Madrid and later to the Spanish Civil war with him. She covered every war that broke out in her lifetime, until 1990's when her health began to give out. She wrote several novels, novellas and two short stories during her carrier. Two of her novels she wrote and published before meeting Hemingway. The detail in which Ms. McLain writes takes you on an unforgettable journey. She captures the subtleties of this complex relationship. Putting into words their deep emotions and volatile love affair. As Paula McLain wrote about Hemingway, it could be said of her. “a brilliant painter of people in his “her” work.” It was due to Paula”s excellent writing that I was able to rate this book so high. I received a copy of this book from Random House Ballantine Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The bestselling author of The Paris Wife returns to the subject of Ernest Hemingway in a novel about his passionate, stormy marriage to Martha Gellhorn—a fiercely independent, ambitious young woman who would become one of the greatest war correspondents of the twentieth century

In 1937, twenty-eight-year-old Martha travels alone to Madrid to report on the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War and becomes drawn to the stories of ordinary people caught in devastating conflict. She also finds herself unexpectedly—and uncontrollably—falling in love with Hemingway, a man already on his way to becoming a legend. In the shadow of the impending Second World War, and set against the tumultuous backdrops of Madrid, Finland, China, Key West, and especially Cuba, where Martha and Ernest make their home, their relationship and professional careers ignite. But when Ernest publishes the biggest literary success of his career, For Whom the Bell Tolls, they are no longer equals, and Martha must make a choice: surrender to the confining demands of being a famous man's wife or risk losing Ernest by forging a path as her own woman and writer. It is a dilemma that will force her to break his heart, and her own.

Wow! What an amazing tale. And what an amazing writer. I'm not easily pulled into a book with any great depth and yet there are several writers who do that for me. Ms. McLain has earned herself a spot on that list. If you are looking for an awesome tale and are a historical fiction fan, do yourself a favor and read this one. I must go and add her previous Hemingway tale, The Paris Wife to my TBR list. Now you see why it never gets any shorter.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, NetGalley and of course, to Ms. McLain for an ARC of this great book in exchange for an honest opinion.

'And yet here we were, anyway, hurtling through the dark toward each other under a hundred million stars, and set to collide disastrously. Logic wouldn’t save us and neither would the dwindling pile of days. We had all the time in the world to make a terrible mistake.'

Ernest Hemingway was stormy weather, why should a love affair with the man be any less tumultuous. This is a gorgeous story about Hemmingway and his lover and third wife Martha Gellhorn. She knows falling in love with the married father of two sons will spell disaster and yet it is inevitable, their mutual need undeniable. At the beginning of the novel, Marty is a disappointment to her father, living a little too carefree for the times. Passionate about a literary career, and certainly not one to settle down and live the life of the ‘little woman’, her writing comes off as vulgar to her father who shames her. A distance opens between them, if war is a shadow so is the shame that remains in her heart after her father’s death. Martha travels to Madrid to write about the Civil War, at great risk to herself, and is moved by the horrors and struggle of the people. Ernest falls in love not just with her youth and beauty but her hunger and courage to the cause.

Hemingway and his women often leave a sour taste in the mouths of wiser ladies, but it’s not hard to imagine how someone as brilliant as Gellhorn could fall under the spell of her idol. She was in awe of him when they met, already a fan and when his attention turns to her, well she caved. It’s not hard to think of his long-suffering wife Pauline Pfeiffer with compassion, birthing his children, steering Ernest as well as only the best of women could and then left for someone younger. She too was a journalist when she met Ernest, and its interestig to note while she supported Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, he supported the Republicans. A point of contention? Hemmingway needed his woman to understand his passions, to support his causes and Gellhorn was on his side, using the might of her words to bring attention to the suffering. She is born to passion in his embrace, but she notices the early warning signs about Ernest, the weather within him, the resentment and sulking, over exaggerated anger when he isn’t getting his own way.

Martha was a bold woman, meeting Ernest opened doors, it cannot be denied, but she had to claw her way to write as a woman during the war. Suffering the dismissal of critics simply for being tied to him and their forbidden love, she was blasted in reviews. Ernest wasn’t her sole passion, she traveled all over the world to write about pressing issues as a great war correspondent, writing on every conflict during her long career. She was unorthodox, an original and if you detest her for stealing a married Hemingway then she redeems herself by choosing her work rather than giving in to his demands that she be still, anchor herself where he wills her. If it meant being punished for her comings and goings, so be it. She dared to leave Ernest, and there is no return to love after that. Everything in Hemingway’s life is beautiful so long as his career is flourishing and Martha is there when he needs her. Ernest was a connoisseur of women, that’s no secret but he was also tortured, and one always wonders how someone tries to fill themselves to quiet the noise in their own mind. He surrounded himself with exciting people, most alive in dangerous situations (an adrenaline junkie?) had a bottomless need for adventure and yet at times his mood would turn and he’d close up into himself. Could he have loved more than one woman, or the ideal of her, why not? It’s his staying power that is questionable. His family certainly has struggles with mental illness, and there is so much conflicting information out there, was he bipolar, or was it possibly head traumas that one thing is certain, he had inner battles and how could that not have been a source of trouble in his love life? Maybe turning to fresh new love was running away as much as his escape to Key West or wherever he went to get away from his family.

At the start of their affair, Martha desperately needs his approval. It was a ‘wonderful and awful’ love. In the raw days, she is of use, she fits in with the people who surround Hemingway and even in the moments when she feels small, and monstrous things are happening around her, this is still the life she would never trade. “I had said yes. And yes always came with a price.” Even if he belonged to someone else, she could not let him go. She is as hooked as the many fish he catches. When they are away from the madness of the world, in Cuba (their own little heaven), the days seem to stretch before them in this paradise. But time will feast on the lovers, as it does us all, and the world won’t be kept at bay. When Time magazine takes a bite out of Martha, diminishing her success Ernest is concerned only with himself. It is the beginning of their love souring, it is as if he must eclipse all those who love him and she is no exception.

Martha went on to have a full, rich life as a war correspondent after her marriage to Ernest. If you’ve read anything about Gellhorn, she is quoted as saying feminists “did a disservice to women branding us as ‘women writers’.” Her argument being, no one says ‘men writers’ about material written by men and yet she was a trailblazer, herself a woman working in a field dominated by men in the 20th century, and it cannot be ignored that the war zones weren’t exactly teeming with women. She lived her life as she wanted it, known to be a prickly, irritable person, intolerant of ‘bores’, a fighter for humanity and yet not a great lover of people individually. A private person. She was so much more than just ‘Hemingway’s lover.’ This is a woman who stowed away on a hospital ship to come ashore on D-Day, how is that for feminism? If Hemingway was her idol in her youth, she outgrew him.

We’re not supposed to care much for the ‘other woman’, are we? The funny thing is, I cared more about her than her idol (Ernest). Anyone could see that Martha and Ernest’s paradise wouldn’t last, because his heart was fickle, he had his own demons within’, his need was all consuming and she was becoming a woman who would not be confined by love anymore than society’s expectations. Was it her awe of him, the war raging around them, or selfish desires that pushed them together, who can say? It was passionate while it lasted, and they loved each other enough to marry, he took Martha as his wife 3 weeks after his divorce from Pffiefer was final. Martha was a woman who could never be happy with a diluted life. That she should choose between Ernest and a career was the end of it all. Love that wants to swallow a woman, make her forget her outside interests and dreams was not a love for Martha. Yet, when they first collide and love explodes it sets them afire, for a time.

Paula McLain wrote a beautiful love story not just about Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn’s affair and marriage, but a love for one woman’s purpose in life that eventually surpassed what she shared with Hemmingway. Yes, read it!

Publication Date: May 1, 2018

Random House

Ballantine