Varietats: Love & Ruin by Paula McLain

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, 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.

This is more than a fiction story, is the story of Martha Gellhorn and her love/hate story with Ernest Hemingway; how they travel together as war correspondents and try to explain what is living in a country where war is ready to start...

This had been an intense and addictive read, I am not used to read fiction based in reality, but this book got me hooked since the beginning. Maybe because in some moments I felt like I was there, one part more of the history or because the characters felt real and you could understand their movements even when they didn't like what they were doing.

I would like to say a few more things that make me a little scared about this book... Not for the story per se but how Martha explained the story of Francisco Franco started in Spain and how the rest of Europe were simply waiting to see what would happen knowing that it would not end good. I am a Spanish citizen, I've lived in Catalonia almost all of my life but I've never been afraid of my freedom, what to say or going to a demonstration, now I am. You could be attacked for wearing a yellow ribbon, put in prison for singing against the monarchy or being judged for wearing a red nose. Do you think this is Democracy? I think this is not looking good and Europe is simply waiting like so many years ago... What are they waiting, another war?

Paula McLain received an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan and has been awarded fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the author of two collections of poetry, as well as a memoir, Like Family. Her novels include The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun. She lives in Cleveland with her family.

Love & Ruin by Paula McLain - Blog Tour