Paula McLain explained
Paula McLain (born 1965) is an American author best known for her novel, The Paris Wife, a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage[1] which became a long-time New York Times bestseller.[2] She has published two collections of poetry, a memoir about growing up in the foster system, and the novel A Ticket to Ride.
Biography
McLain was born in 1965 in Fresno, California. Her mother vanished when she was four, and her father was in and out of jail, leaving McLain and her sisters (one older, one younger) moving in and out of various foster homes for the next fourteen years,[3] an ordeal described "with a dispassionate grace that puts a human face, actually three human faces, on the alarming statistics" in her memoir, Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses[4] When she aged out of the system, she supported herself by working in various jobs before discovering she could write.[3] She received an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan and has been a resident of Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony as well as the recipient of fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Cleveland with her family.[5]
Bibliography
Novels
- A Ticket to Ride (2008)
- The Paris Wife (2011)
- Circling the Sun (2015) (L'aviatrice en français)
- Love and Ruin (2018)
- When the Stars Go Dark (2021)
Nonfiction
- Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses (2003)
Poetry
- Less of Her (1999, New Issues Poetry Press)
- Stumble, Gorgeous, (2005, New Issues Poetry Press)
Notes and References
- News: 'The Paris Wife' Dives Into Hemingway's First Big Love . Lynn Neary . NPR . March 1, 2011 . April 26, 2013 . April 30, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130430190434/http://www.npr.org/2011/03/01/134132944/the-paris-wife-dives-into-hemingways-first-big-love . live .
- News: Trade Paperback bestsellers . New York Times . May 5, 2013 . April 26, 2013 . April 25, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130425180730/http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/trade-fiction-paperback/list.html . live .
- News: The Mother I Never Had . Paula McLain . Real Simple . February 2011 . April 29, 2013 . May 22, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240522012349/https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/inspiration-motivation . live .
- News: Love's Lost From Life In Foster Care . Pat MacEnulty . Sun Sentinel . June 22, 2003 . April 26, 2013 . October 20, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141020063158/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2003-06-22/entertainment/0306200401_1_foster-care-system-lindberghs-three-girls . dead .
- Web site: Paula McLain. HarperCollins US. 14 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20130609142809/http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/32525/Paula_McLain/index.aspx. 9 June 2013. dead.
