As I've come to expect, Paula McLain has given us another painstakingly researched and beautifully prosaic novel of a fascinating female historical figure.

After going in a slightly different direction with Circling the Sun, McLain returns here to the wives of Ernest Hemingway, this time featuring war reporter and wife #3 Martha Gellhorn.

I wish we saw more of Gellhorn in popular culture. I wish we saw more of her in history lessons, for that matter. She completely changed war reporting, and defied convention about a woman's place in the world with incredible guts and guile.

That said, her portrayal in this book is a tad problematic. While undoubtedly an admirable woman, I'm not sure the relatable, easy to sympathize with character we got here was much like the real Martha. And that's a complement to Gellhorn, who appeared just a tad desperate in the book at times, and in moments almost borderline shrill.

In reality, as Hemingway wives go, Gellhorn was by far the least victim-y, something that McLain seems to remember for most of the book, but loses track of in a few critical moments.

But the biggest issue with this book is that the Hemingway wives thing is starting to feel a little like a schtick for McLain.

While their personalities and plot lines independent of marriage are different (and that much was certainly well-rendered by McLain), Martha's "voice" reads almost exactly like Hadley's. If you gave me unlabeled bits of dialogue from both books, I'm not certain I could identify which woman was speaking.

The scenery and Gellhorn's exploits as a war reporter, however, were exquisitely done. Perhaps a book in which Gellhorn's career was the focus and her marriage to Hemingway was just a footnote would have made for better material. But I suppose I'm one of the few among McLain's audience who would prefer to have the love story component shelved.

This is a good read on the whole, worth it (as McLain's books always are) for the writing and sense of place alone. But it can't match The Paris Wife, and suffered in comparison all the more because it's a very similar book.

This was a great work of historical fiction. Coming after The Paris Wife, where we read about Hemingway's marriage to Hadley Richardson, the first of his four wives, this to me was even better!

Martha Gellhorn is a well-known name in journalism and I loved her fierce independence and the way she knew herself so well. Instead of getting lost in the shadow of the great Hemingway, Martha was the one that got away. The one that left him and made her own star shine so brightly. I have great admiration for this woman and this was a very good look at two passionate people and the ups and downs of their relationship, but this was truly Martha's story.

What a great story!

Netgalley/Ballentine Books  May 01,2018

I will be honest and tell you that prior to reading this book I knew nothing about Martha Gellhorn or any of Ernest Hemingway's wives. And what a shame that is! Love and Ruin was a wonderfully researched novel that painted Martha just as she was, a fiercely independent and intelligent woman who fought for her chance to tell the world of injustices and war. It is clear that she loved Ernest very deeply but not more than she loved herself, and what a wonderful thing that is. I yearn to know more about her. From now on when I am asked the question "If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?" my answer will be Martha Gellhorn.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book chronicles the life of Martha Gellhorn and her encounter with Ernest Hemingway. It is well written and an interesting take on Hemingway and how he chose to live his life. For me it got to a point it was just dragging, but this is just a personal preference. Overall this book will find its audience and be well received.

DNF about 25%. The book was just so dragging. so I was not able to finish reading this book.

Ernest Hemingway: Do you know a lot about him? I don't. I knew he was a famous writer -- I associated him with Cuba and cats. I knew he had married multiple times and thought he committed suicide. I remembered reading, in high school, several stories he wrote. I was fascinated by the "deep meanings" in them that our teacher pointed out.

Love and Ruin is a new historical fiction book following Hemingway's relationship with Martha Gellhorn, his third wife. Despite Hemingway being the "big name" here, the book is written from Martha(or Marty, as she's called)'s perspective, and it's her you'll get to know. I'd never heard of Marty Gellhorn, but she was a famous writer and war correspondent in her own right.

I enjoyed the book, and I enjoyed following Marty as she went through life. Her mom was always there too; the voice of caution and reason when Martha gets involved with Hemingway initially (most moms probably would not be excited for their daughters to catch the eye of a twice-married man), and when she becomes professionally anxious too: "Beginnings are important, too, darling. You should be patient with life."

Hemingway is smitten with Marty from their first meeting. This isn't ideal, since he is still married to wife #2 at the time. But the artsy, go-with-your-passions Ernest doesn't really care about that. The two are a couple long before marrying, and honestly once they got married, their relationship was already seeming to head south. Both were quite independent, and at a certain point Marty became tired of just being seen as Ernest's wife rather than as someone with something to contribute in her own right. Hemingway comes across as someone artistic and certainly mercurial.

Marty supported Hemingway through the writing of his book "For Whom the Bell Tolls," which became hugely successful:

" I was thrilled for Ernest, I really was. But it stung to see the red carpet rolled out for a book that wasn't even published yet. I had been just as devoted to "A Stricken Field," and it had vanished into the ether almost immediately. I had poured my best self into those pages, but instead of triumph, or some sense of personal accomplishment, I'd been sucker punched. It still hurt that work I loved and had suffered for could be so easily dismissed. it enraged me as much as ever that even the few good reviews I'd received had been hijacked by the larger story of my being Ernest's new girl."

As a writer, I could commiserate with how Marty must have felt. When she began doing more of her own work, reporting war stories, Ernest became upset with what he perceived as a lack of support. "Try as I might, there was no stepping out of his shadow." He was soon on to his next wife.

I enjoyed Love and Ruin and the feel it created for the time and place. An epilogue lets us know that Marty went on to write and report for many more years before dying at 89 in 1998.

Love and Ruin tells the story of Martha Gellhorn, who became one of America's greatest war correspondents, and her doomed love affair and marriage to Ernest Hemingway. They met by chance, while he was still married to his 2nd wife. Hemingway soon asked her to come to Spain to report on the war there with him, and their love affair took off from there. Gellhorn faced that eternal female struggle of juggling her love for Hemingway and being a good wife while also being her true self, not just a sidekick "Mrs. Hemingway", and continuing with her own work, which took her away from home and to war zones throughout her life. Hemingway, of course, had his own battles to fight - alcoholism, depression, etc. and eventually the toll on their marriage was just too great. I thought this book was a fascinating look not only at two amazing people and artists, but also at the times and world events they covered. I don't usually care for first person novels, but this one was spot on. Many thanks to Ballantine Publishing Group - Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the e-arc. Loved it!

OVE AND RUIN” BY Paula McLain

“Love and Ruin” by Paula McLain is an amazing, captivating, intriguing and intense novel. The Genres for this novel are Fiction and Historical Fiction, with an essence of Romance. The timeline for this story is before and during World War Two. The story takes place in Spain, Cuba, and Europe, as well as the United States.

I appreciate the historical research that Paula McLain has done to vividly describe the destruction of war. The author describes her characters as complex and complicated. Martha Gelhorn, an author and journalist and Ernest Hemingway, an author have an intense and stormy relationship.

Martha Gelhorn is portrayed as an ambitious, active, and dedicated journalist reporting atrocities of war. Ernest Hemingway is portrayed as a moody, at times ego-centric author. During the time of their relationship Ernest Hemingway writes one of his greatest novels “From Whom the Bell Tolls”. There seems to be competition and rivalry at times between the two authors.

I would recommend this novel to readers that appreciate the genre of Historical Fiction. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

I'd previously read the Paris Wife, so I was very interested when I saw this was about another of Hemingway's wives. I found Love and Ruin to be much more interesting and engaging. The story is told primarily from the perspective of Martha Gellhorn, with brief insights into Hemingway's perspective. Gellhorn had a fascinating life even aside from her marriage, and learning about the places she traveled and the stories she covered was intriguing and exciting. After reading this, I want to go on to read more about her life. I highly recommend, and I'll definitely be reading more by Paula McLain.

An interesting story about the life of Martha Gellhorn, specifically the period of her life that she spent married to Ernest Hemingway. The author did a wonderful job depicting the passionate and, yet, stormy relationship between Gellhorn and Hemingway. Hemingway was a complicated man, teetering often into the realm of self destruction, and many of his wives were more abiding of his behaviors. I was actually surprised that he married Gellhorn, she was a remarkable woman and fiercely independent. I can only imagine how challenging it had to be for her to live in Hemingway's shadow. Yet, she did make a name for herself and I'd have preferred to learn more about her work than her relationship with Hemingway. Still, I am glad that I picked up this book and plan to read a few of her Gellhorn's works.
This was a Net Galley ARC read.

I enjoyed this book to a point. I liked learning about Ernest Hemingway and I LIKED the strong female character. I was disappointed that it was less of a love story but I guess the author had to work with what was historically accurate.

Outstanding story of the starcrossed relationship between Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway. The author made the characters so vivid and real that you felt that you were there.. You could hear the bombs and feel the dirt and grit while reading about their escapades while reporting their stories.

Amazing read for everyone

I received this book courtesy of Netgalley and its publisher, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books.

This is an amazingly powerful novel about an independent, courageous and intensely ambitious woman who follows her deepest desires and does not let love or life stop her, only long enough to create an obstacle that she clambers over. Marty battles with being viewed as being beautiful, and her intelligence and fierce tenacity are traits she must prove to others, and ones that she must always keep at the forefront. Others quickly learn to see past her beauty and are able to see her passion and strength and respect her for all that she does, including pushing herself forward to the frontline of a war zone, many times and in many countries.

This is also a love story. Not only to a world-famous author, who struggles with the pains of his written work and from his own internal conflicts, but also to her career and passion. Her relationship with Hemingway was never easy, settled, or calm, and Marty stayed true to her deepest inner instinct about him, their marriage, a baby, and the written promise to never leave him for long again.

Though an intriguing and impressive novel, it was not an easy read. It required, and deserved, utmost attention and thought to digest and appreciate all the history, the underlying stories, and the emotional turmoil and intent. I struggled through parts but then was pulled in to the story again and was eager to continue.

I have so much respect for Marty and truly enjoyed reading about her journeys. She succeeded in making a difference like she wanted to.

I enjoy history and writers of life as it happens and the past. Martha, was a fabulous war correspondent and although I was familiar with some of her writings this book was awesome in getting you interested in reading more and more. The Hemingway part may be of interest to some but beyond that it’s a great book.

Genre: Biographical Historical Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Pub. Date: May 1, 2018

The author, Paula McClain, has made a career writing historical fiction memoirs. Her most popular novel, “The Paris Wife” is a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway's marriage to Hadley Richardson. Hadley is Ernest’s starter wife. He had four wives by the time of his death. While married to Richardson, Hemingway wrote, “A Moveable Feast,” his classic memoir of Paris in the 1920s. In McClain next novel, “Circling the Sun” she writes in the voice of Beryl Markham, a British-born Kenyan aviator who became the first woman to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic. In “Love and Ruin,” McClain once again comes back to Hemingway. This time, the narrator is his third wife, Martha Gellhorn, known as Marty. As in her other books, it is clear that the author did her homework by researching previously published biographical material on her heroines.

“Love and Ruin” are words that seem to be twin preoccupations in life and literature. It may not be as catchy, but if this book was titled “Love, War and Loss” the reader would know exactly what they were about to dive into, because the story is about the carnage of war and the ruin of a painful marriage. Marty Gellhorn is considered one of the most important war correspondents of the 20th century. She meets Hemingway in late 1936, in the now infamous “Sloppy Joe's Bar,” located in Key West, Florida. The bar was a favorite watering hole for the writer. (I’m proud to say I had a drink there). He invites Marty, and her mother, to his Key West house, where he lived with his 2nd wife and two sons. He had another son from his first marriage. (Since, I visited the house, which is now a museum; I can assure you that all details are accurate, right down to his wall art. Which are movie posters of his books that became films). When Marty hears his plans to travel to Spain as a war correspondent covering the takeover of Spain by Franco, she decides to meet him there. It is during this journey that she discovers her love of adventure. It is also here, where the couple’s love affair begins. Hemingway’s experiences in Spain were his inspiration for his book, “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which he wrote in their home in Cuba.

Ernest Hemingway truly was a larger-than-life individual. He was also a misogynist alcoholic. His career hit an all time high with “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” while Marty, also a writer of novels, only received notice as Hemingway's wife. She hated everything about Hollywood. But Earnest was in his glory with all the attention. She believed in order for her to breathe, she needed to get away from Ernest’s needy ego. This was the beginning of the end of their marriage. Determined not to live in the shadow of her famous husband, she accepted dangerous war journalist assignments overseas. Realizing her true passion comes from on-the-ground reporting she decides to cover D-Day by stowing away on the first hospital ship to land at Normandy, wading ashore to become the first journalist, male or female, to make it there and report back. She was an amazing woman. Unfortunately, her husband saw her leaving not as a work assignment, but as her leaving the marriage. He started the divorce process. She was heartbroken to read in the newspaper that he already had another woman living with him in their Cuban home. It is hard to like Hemingway, but through Marty’s voice, the author does a great job of describing his deep depressive episodes. For anyone who knew the man, his suicide was not a surprise. Even after their divorce, Marty still worried about her self-destructive ex. As the reader, I wondered if the Hemingway would have had a better life if he hadn’t become so famous.

Reading Marty’s first-hand view of war was engaging as well as traumatic. I very much enjoyed the history lesson through the heroine’s voice. But, I felt her feelings on the horrors she witnessed in war, which could be tough. Maybe, this is why I so enjoy historical fiction memoirs. You feel like you are getting inside the head of the narrator, and McClain does this genre extraordinarily well. I feel that I should mention that the author has lived an interesting life. She wrote her own memoir, “Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses.” McClain’s parents abandoned their children. She and her two sisters grew up in foster care homes. Even if you do not care for memoirs, I strongly recommend that you give beautifully “Love and Ruin” a try. It has a something for everyone, no matter your favorite genre.

My least favorite of the three McLain books I've read. I wonder why she went back to Hemingway, who is unlikable as hell. This didn't roll for me like The Paris Wife or Circling the Sun, it was missing the magic I found in those pages, but still a three star because I like Gellhorn. Free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of historical fiction, In particular WWII era. I am also a fan of Ernest Hemingway and this book had brought the best of both worlds. Having said that, I am glad I requested this book as its focus is on the life of Martha Gellhorn, an American woman who travels the world during the unrest of WWII.

Paula McLain transports us and delivers an outstanding love story of determination and hope. I will definitely recommend this to fellow readers.

Love and Ruin is the story of Hemingway's third wife, Martha Gellhorn. She appears to be the most independent of his four spouses as she lived life according to her own terms, no matter what the costs. THe best parts of the book are the author's descriptions of Gellhorn's travels. She was a correspondent during the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Her affair with Hemingway turned into a marriage that didn't last. In many ways Hemingway was a spoiled man who expected the women in his life to shower him with attention and praise. Gellhorn pursued her own interests, which makes her far more fascinating than him. Another well researched and well written book by Paula McLain.

If you love modern historical fiction based on true stories this is the one for you. This is the story of Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn. Martha Gellhorn was his third wife. The two started their affair when he was still married to his second wife. Martha Gellhorn was an author in her own right. She was also a war correspondent. The legendary Hemingway overshadowed much of her career. After I read this, I want to know more about Gellhorn and the other Hemingway wives.

It is hard to approach this book without asking if it should be looked upon as a failed romance novel or if it should be considered a biopic of a fierce woman who chose to be true to herself. If the summative war details are overlooked and the fact that this is Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn we're talking about are taken out of the equation, this wasn't a strong novel. But if you're reading it for a dramatization of two literary forces lighting a match and then blowing it out, then it is a good read. As a stand-alone story, nope, it didn't happen for me. Gellhorn's character needs development. I want my protagonist to be strong.