The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

I read this book for my new book club, although unfortunately didn't attend the meeting for it at the last minute. I'm like the opposite of most book club members - I read the book but didn't attend.

The story is about Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway's first wife, and her relationship with him during the years when they lived in Paris.  From the beginning of the book, it's obvious that their marriage will fall apart, but the exquisite detail that McLain describes of their courtship, relationship, and (mostly) happy times was delightful to read.  Hadley comes across as immature, striving to fit into an artsy Paris that wasn't natural for her - she finds herself hob-knobbing with Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein, for example, while she is mostly a caretaker, first of Hemingway, then of their child. 

I loved reading the background about what Hemingway was experiencing when he conceived Nick Adams and the events in his life that led to his writing The Sun Also Rises.  The Paris that McLain describes is fascinating and beautiful.  You don't have to know much about Hemingway to enjoy this book - in that way, it reminded me of Loving Frank.