I've just read The Paris Wife and loved it. I am interested to know how easy or difficult it was for you to slip yourself so completely into Hadley's shoes ... the voice you created for her was entirely convincing, I totally believed it was Hadley who was speaking to me throughout. Did you study very carefully things Hadley herself had written in order to capture her voice? Or was it more yr imagination?

Paula McLain Hello, Shelley. Nice to hear from you! Honestly, it did feel easy to slip into Hadley's voice and character for me, particularly once I was able to read her letters to Ernest, which are archived in the JFK Memorial Library in Boston. She wrote thousands of pages when they were courting in 1920-21, and he saved everything--thank goodness! They're wonderful letters, too...lively, funny, smart, vivacious...and her personality leaps off the page. But of course imagination is definitely part of the process as well. Her thoughts and feelings, her dialogue--all of that is made up, launching out from what I read and discovered about her. I never use her actual words in the novel. The character is my version of Hadley, if that makes sense, and as true as I could make her.

Hope this answer is helpful. Thanks so much for reading!

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