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Love and Ruin

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Love and Ruin

By: Paula McLain
Narrated by: January LaVoy
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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.


Based on a true story

Martha Gellhorn was one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century

FOR WHOM THE BELLS TOLLS was dedicated to Martha, and inspired by the time they were together in Spain. It was Hemingway's most successful book to date, it sold half a million copies within months, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and triumphantly reestablished his literary reputation©2018 Paula McLain Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction War & Military Women's Fiction Fiction War Heartfelt Latin American
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Critic reviews

Beautifully written and, if you want to get a sense of this extraordinary woman, then it is a perfect introduction
Love and Ruin makes for captivating reading, and Gellhorn's a most worthy subject for McLain's skilful portraiture (Lucy Scholes)
Fast paced and compelling, this is a novel that screams out to be filmed, the bantering insolent dialogue and the sparring partner protagonists reminiscent of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in the film of To Have And Have Not. A complex heartbreaker of a love story that makes for an enthralling read (Charlotte Heathcote)
Romance, infidelity, war - Paula McLain's powerhouse novel has it all
Engrossing . . . [Love and Ruin] spotlights a woman ahead of her time-a fearless reporter who covered the major conflicts of the twentieth century
McLain brings forth the deepest, most ringing elements of both 'love and ruin', the two poles of Marty and Ernest's tempestuous relationship, a ferocious contest between two brilliant, wilful, and intrepid writers. McLain's fast-moving, richly insightful, heartwrenching, and sumptuously written tale pays exhilarating homage to its truly exceptional and significant inspiration
McLain's ability to base a work of fiction on real people is nothing short of superb. Readers may pick up Love and Ruin because of their obsession with Ernest Hemingway, but they'll fall in love with it because of Marty Gellhorn
Engrossing and beautifully crafted
A beautifully written novel
All stars
Most relevant
Only one disappointment in this magnificent book - the emotion and sentimentality applied to the fictional dialog between Gellhorn and others. As a work of fiction it is excellent, but to endow this non-fictional character with imagined conversations was difficult to endure. However, it is a fictional account and as such it was riveting, enlightening and very well written.

Magnificient book

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