I Got (e)Mail…

 

If you’ve followed this blog for some time you will know that I love Paris.  In recent years, London has been tugging at my heart strings, but after spending time in both cities this past summer, Paris came out on top.

 

The first time I visited Paris was in 1988, but I had dreamed of going to The City of Light for many, many years prior to that.  I’ve always stayed in  St. Germain des Pres  (6th arrondissement) and can’t imagine staying anywhere else in Paris.  In the early 1990s, I discovered Hotel D’Angleterre (44 Rue Jacob) and since then have made it my home base whenever I’m in Paris. This photo is Room 14, “The Hemingway Suite“, named after Ernest Hemingway, who had stayed in this room with Hadley, his first wife, on their first nights ever in Paris, December 20-22, 1921.  Understandably, this room is requested often but lucky for me, I’ve been able to stay in it three or four times.

***Hotel D’Angleterre is conveniently located to all the major tourist locations and what I love especially are the bistros that are in close proximity.  After a long day walking the city, relaxing over a slow dinner close to home is perfect. There’s always activity on the street making it so entertaining for people watching…never a dull moment!  The hotel staff are wonderful and the lady in charge of the breakfast room serves a complimentary breakfast with the best coffee and croissants to fuel you for the day ahead.  The only (and I mean only) drawback is that there is no air conditioning and as the summers are heating up, the rooms can be almost unbearable…

This is a long-winded, rambling lead in to this post, but it’s the beginning of my history with Hemingway!  Now for this week’s post.

 

On Sunday, I received a newsletter (I’m one of the many fans on the mailing list) from Paula McLain, the author of “The Paris Wife”.  It’s been 15 years since her book was released.  She was reminiscing about her first trip to Paris in 2010 after she had written the book but before it was published.  McLain didn’t visit the usual tourists spots but, instead, walked the Paris streets the characters, she wrote about in her book, frequented.  She was particularly excited to stand at the doorstep of Hemingway’s first Paris apartment at 74 rue du Cardinal Lemoine, where  he and Hadley lived from January 1922 until August 1923.

 

 

This is the “blue” door Paula McLain desperately wanted to see and touch the peeling paint.  These are photos my daughter took on one of our trips…I think she was exhausted by the time we got here.  It was our last “Hemingway” stop of a long day!

 

I was dumbstruck that Paula McLain could have written this book without ever being in Paris.  When reading her book you are instantly immersed into the heart of St. Germain. Her descriptions are so rich that you visualize the bistros, you imagine how Gertrude Stein’s salon was decorated, you walk along with Hemingway through the Luxembourg Gardens, you hear the conversations between Hemingway and Sylvia Beach in Shakespeare and Company (when it was located at 12 rue de l’Odean) …you are there…

I promptly sent Paula McLain the following email:

Hello Paula,

Thank you for sharing this post regarding “The Paris Wife”.  I, too, love Paris and make the trip back as often as I can.  I have always stayed at Hotel d’Angleterre, even in Room 14, prior to reading your book.  After that, anytime I took someone to Paris who had never been, I asked them to read “The Paris Wife” just to get a feel for what was in store for them when we were in Paris.  I took them on what I called, The Hemingway Day, and we walked to all the places he and Hadley had frequented during that period.  I also had a rush of emotion the first time I walked up to the “blue” door.

I’ve given your book, “The Paris Wife” to so many of my friends.  I’m sad that I gave away my original copy…I now have a paperback version on my book shelf but after reading your email, I plan to find a hardcopy with a cover photo that I particularly love.

It’s shocking to me that you had never been to Paris before writing this book…maybe in another lifetime you were a regular at Les Deux Magots eavesdropping on some juicy conversations.

Judy Stout

 

And surprisingly I received this email from Paula McLain on Monday:

Hi Judy!

Passing along this message from Paula below:

Hello Judy.  I love this message!  Thank you so much for sharing your connection to the book.  It means a lot to me.  If you could pass along your address here to my assistant it would be my pleasure to find you a hard cover version of the book, which I will personalize for you.  How does that sound?

Warmest wishes to you–

Paula

Needles to say, I think this sounds fabulous…

Isn’t it true that the small things in life give the most joy.  I will be checking my mailbox everyday in anticipation of this special delivery.

I love reading historical fiction especially about events I’m somewhat familiar with.   After reading “The Paris Wife”, I went on a deep dive into everything I could find out about Ernest Hemingway.  I read a few of his books, and I have to say I’m not really a fan of them…they are a bit too macho and violent for me.  After my research, Hemingway wouldn’t have been one of my favourite people but Hadley, THE Paris wife, would have been someone I admired.

There was one little tidbit I read about that has stuck with me…it was in 1929, several years after Hemingway and Hadley divorced.   Hemingway was sitting by the window at Brasserie Lipp (photo left) when he saw Hadley get out of a Taxi at the Taxi stand just in front of the cafe.  He quickly went out to greet her.  They exchanged just a few casual words about what they were up to etc. and then Hadley left…she crossed that long intersection at Boulevard St. Germain while Hemingway was left watching longingly.  I think of this scene whenever I’m sitting at Les Deux Magots, on the front side facing Boulevard St. Germain, which is directly across the street from Brasserie Lipp.

The French saying for “I miss you” is “Tu me manques”, however, the direct French translation is, “You are missing from me”.  This is what I imagine Hemingway thinking in that moment as Hadley walks away from him and his life.  They were an unlikely couple.  Hemingway was younger than Hadley, handsome and quite full of himself. Hadley was shy and slightly dowdy alongside him.  They were so in love when they first married, poor and hungry, in those first few years in Paris.  I’m sure Hemingway regretted the reckless, careless way he took for granted his relationship with Hadley.   It seemed he never truly found happiness in his life after Hadley.

I’ll be rereading “The Paris Wife” when I receive my special edition.  How you are spending these last days of winter?

xox Judy❤️