This book looks at what it was like to be Hem’s wife

Ernest Hemingway’s name has appeared innumerable times in Australian Bartender, mostly because of his prodigious drinking. But this book, by author Naomi Wood, chronicles the experiences of being married to Ernest Hemingway from the perspective of his four wives.

Based on real love letters and telegrams, the book chronicles Hemingway’s cycle of marriage, love-triangle, and then re-marriage to his mistress. And, of course there was oodles of drinking involved.

From his days in Bohemian Paris in the 1920s to his demise in post-Cold War USA, to his years drinking rum in Cuba, all four of his marriages are wracked with problems thanks to Hemingway’s passion for the bottle.

From Gin and Sherry in Paris to the endless cocktails and parties with the Fitzgerald’s in Antibes to the Champagne in post-war France, not a day passed without a cocktail hour. But it’s a great read that gives you an insight into the turbulent mind of one of the 21st century’s most revered writers. And the wives are spectacular and engaging.

So why don’t you kick back on a lounge chair this summer and raise a glass to the life of Ernest!

To pick up a copy head to Amazon or your friendly local bookseller.