Curtis DeBerg

Mary Welsh Hemingway, Ernest’s fourth wife, finally gets her fair due. Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer and Martha Gellhorn all had their stories told. It’s about time that Mary had hers told, too. After all, she was married to Hemingway for fifteen years. No other woman stuck it out with the hyperkinetic, hypomanic Nobel author for nearly as long. 

Tim Christian has turned out a gem here. Though the first part of the book reads rather lawyerly, with facts thrust upon us with very little analysis, Christian more than makes up of it in the last 60% of the book, a tome of over 500 pages. Christian, a former law school dean, builds a case for Mary, if not as Ernest’s most loving wife, certainly as the wife who stuck it out with him through thick and thin. If I’m to judge this book, I award Tim Christian a ‘not guilty’ verdict. He’s not guilty of adding ‘just another’ biography to the long list of books about Hemingway, his family or his friends.

Christian’s insight into Mary and her relationship with her husband helped make the book original, informative and entertaining. “Hemingway’s Widow” deserves a prominent spot in the libraries of all Hemingway aficionados. 

Top Ten Things I Enjoyed About This Book

1. Mary is often portrayed as a villain in Ernest’s life, much like Pauline. But Tim Christian shows that she is, indeed, a heroine in many respects. She put up with his Black-Ass moods, his insults and his occasional backslaps, notwithstanding that she often could be cunning, selfish and in love with being Mrs. Ernest Hemingway as much, if not more than, she was in love with Ernest.

2. Christian’s comparison of Mary’s version of “A Moveable Feast” (1964) with Sean and Patrick’s Restored Edition (2009) makes for compelling reading if you are more than just a casual reader of these books. That said, I still think the Restored Edition is better, contrary to Christian’s conclusion. The restored edition, like the original, shows how deep and conflicted Ernest was about his breakup with Hadley. But—and this is a big but—the Restored Edition shows how much he loved Pauline, and intended to write a second book that gave her a fair hearing.

3. Wow! Jack and Patrick really got robbed by Mary with respect to Ernest’s estate. They both deserved better. Thanks for giving us “the true gen” here, Mr. Christian.

4. Another example of Mary’s selfishness: she KEPT the painting by Joan Miro, “The Farm,” as her own property rather than returning it to Hadley, the rightful owner. Mary eventual gave Jack $25,000 to get him and Hadley off her back. 

5. Christian clearly shows how estranged Ernest was from all three of his sons by the time of his death. Patrick hadn’t seen him since 1954; Gregory, 1956.

6. When Buck Lanham learned of Ernest’s braggadocio and fabrications from Carlos Baker, he was appalled. Lanham had at one time been Ernest’s best friend. But after he learned of Ernest’s letters describing his role in WWII, he could see why his wife, Pete, disliked Ernest so much. Christian did a great job here in showing that Ernest couldn’t maintain close friendships even after he was dead!

7. Mary insulted President Kennedy by offering him unsolicited advice at a White House dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners. Kennedy called her a “dog,” according to Bill Walton, but Walton probably toned done his recollections. Likely, Kennedy called her a “bitch.”

8. I enjoyed Christian’s in-depth analysis of the relationship between Aaron Hotchner (“Hotch”) and Hemingway, and how Mary felt betrayed by Hotch’s book. Mary deserved to lose the lawsuit against Hotch, in spite of the fact that Hotchner’ s book would likely have been seen by Hemingway as disloyalty and betrayal (but, really, would Hemingway have had a case here? Ernest had betrayed a long list of literary friends).

9. Alfred Rice took a 30% fee as lawyer and agent for Ernest and Mary, and then later, just Mary. He could have made things right with Ernest’s sons upon settling Ernest’s estate, but with Rice’s tacit approval, Mary denied Jack and Patrick any of Ernest’s possessions. If they could, they probably would have denied Jack, Patrick and Gregory rights to his royalties, too (foreign and domestic, regular and renewal copyright). Rice does not come out looking very good in Christian’s book.

10. Christian hit the jackpot with in-depth interviews of Patrick Hemingway and Valerie (Danby-Smith) Hemingway. Having eyewitness accounts to Ernest and Mary Hemingway’s life added tremendous value to this jewel of a book.