Paula McLain was a woman in need of a big idea. The Cleveland Heights mother of three had written two books that, although favorably reviewed by critics, had failed to sell the copies necessary to maintain major publisher interest. Her next effort, her agent stressed, had to be a success. Desperate for inspiration, she began reading A Moveable Feast — Ernest Hemingway’s memoir of his days as a budding author in 1920s Paris — with the vague intention of writing a novel set in the same magical time and place. She was captivated by Hemingway’s rendering of his first wife, Hadley Richardson, a sheltered-but-strong young woman from an upper-crust St. Louis family. To read more, click here to subscribe.