Read: May 25, 2014
Summary: The setting is 1930s Key West and Hemingway is married to his second wife, Pauline. We follow the story of a struggling young woman, Mariella Bennet and her family. She strives to find her footing in 1930s immigrant neighbourhood where she grew up as the daughter of an American fisherman and a Cuban immigrant. Through the struggle to support her family, Mariella finds herself at bars and bordellos placing bets on risky boxing matches in order to supplement her meagre income. In the midst of the matches she sees, two men show Mariella interest: world-famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, and Gavin Murray, one of the WWI veterans who are laboring to build the Overseas Highway.
My Thoughts: I found this really enjoyable and it didn’t take me long to finish this book. It was a great to read this after reading The Paris Wife as it felt like I was continuing with the saga of Ernest Hemingway. Although parts of the story were based on reality, for example Hemingway’s personality, his marriage to Pauline, and the lifestyle led in Key West, but unlike The Paris Wife, it is mostly fictional. Certain characters don’t really exist in real life but are portraits created based on pictures seen by the author.
