When the Stars Go Dark
- 384 pages
- 14 hours of reading
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife comes a fast- paced thriller and a hauntingly suspenseful deep-dive into trauma
Paula McLain crafts novels that delve into the lives and inner worlds of compelling women, often those connected to the art world. Her prose is celebrated for its vivid imagery, emotional resonance, and insightful exploration of complex relationships. McLain brings historical settings to life with meticulous detail, examining themes of identity, love, and loss with sensitivity and depth. Readers are drawn to her ability to weave captivating narratives that feel both expansive and intimately personal.






From the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife comes a fast- paced thriller and a hauntingly suspenseful deep-dive into trauma
"A novel about [Ernest Hemingway's] passionate, stormy marriage to Martha Gellhorn-- a fiercely independent, ambitious young woman who would become one of the greatest war correspondents of the twentieth century ... In the shadow of the impending Second World War, and set against the turbulent backdrops of Madrid and Cuba, Martha and Ernest's relationship and their professional careers ignite. But when Ernest publishes the biggest literary success of his career, For Whom the Bell Tolls, they are no longer equals, and Martha must make a choice: surrender to the confining demands of being a famous man's wife or risk losing Ernest by forging a path as her own woman and writer. It is a dilemma that could force her to break his heart, and hers"--
Příběh vášnivého, bouřlivého vztahu Ernesta Hemingwaye a jeho třetí manželky Marthy Gellhornové Od autorky bestsellerů Pařížská manželka a Létala jsem za sluncem V roce 1937 se osmadvacetiletá novinářka Martha Gellhornová vydává do Madridu, aby podala zprávu o hrůzách španělské občanské války. Osudy obyčejných lidí, lapených v soukolí ničivého konfliktu, se jí hluboce dotýkají. Navíc se nečekavě a bláznivě zamiluje do Hemingwaye, z něhož je tou dobou již žijící legenda. Jejich vztah i kariéra se naplno rozhoří a nakonec se, ve stínu blížící se druhé světové války, vezmou. Martha je nezávislá, neohrožená a ambiciózní válečná korespondentka a tvrdě pracuje, aby zůstala sama sebou, naplnila své poslání a nikdy nežila ve stínu svého muže. Ve chvíli, kdy Ernest v roce 1940 vydává jeden ze svých nejúspěšnějších románů Komu zvoní hrana, však přestávají být rovnocennými partnery. Martha se musí rozhodnout: sleví z vlastních cílů a poddá se omezujícím nárokům postavení manželky slavného spisovatele, nebo si ponechá samostatnost a kariéru, ale ztratí tím milovaného muže. Dilema, které může jim oběma zlomit srdce. Paula McLainová čtenáře již podruhé zavede k životním osudům slavného spisovatele a lamače srdcí Ernesta Hemingwaye. Tentokrát do bouřlivých kulis neklidného válečného Madridu, Finska, Číny, ostrova Key West a Kuby.
As a young girl, Beryl Markham was brought to Kenya from Britain by parents dreaming of a new life. For her mother, the dream quickly turned sour, and she returned home; Beryl was brought up by her father, who switched between indulgence and heavy-handed authority, allowing her first to run wild on their farm, then incarcerating her in the classroom. The scourge of governesses and serial absconder from boarding school, by the age of sixteen Beryl had been catapulted into a disastrous marriage - but it was in facing up to this reality that she took charge of her own destiny. Scandalizing high society with her errant behaviour, she left her husband and became the first woman ever to hold a professional racehorse trainer's licence. After falling in with the notoriously hedonistic and gin-soaked Happy Valley set, Beryl soon became embroiled in a complex love triangle with the writer Karen Blixen and big game-hunter Denys Finch Hatton (immortalized in Blixen's memoir Out of Africa). It was this unhappy affair which set tragedy in motion, while awakening Beryl to her truest self, and to her fate: to fly.
Meeting through mutual friends in Chicago, Hadley is intrigued by brash "beautiful boy" Ernest Hemingway, and after a brief courtship and small wedding, they take off for Paris, where Hadley makes a convincing transformation from an overprotected child to a game and brave young woman who puts up with impoverished living conditions and shattering loneliness to prop up her husband's career.