The Garden of Eden (novel)

The Garden of Eden is the second posthumously released novel of Ernest Hemingway, published in 1986. Hemingway started the novel in 1946 and worked on the manuscript for the next 15 years, during which time he also wrote The Old Man and the Sea, The Dangerous Summer, A Moveable Feast, and Islands in the Stream.

Plot summary

The novel is fundamentally the story of five months in the lives of David Bourne, an American writer, and his wife Catherine. It is set mainly in the French Riviera, specifically in the Côte d'Azur, and in Spain. The story begins with their honeymoon in the Camargue, then moves to Spain, then back to France (at a "long low rose-colored Provençal house where they had stayed before... in the pines on the Estérel side of la Napoule" (within easy driving distance to Cannes). However, early in the book, Catherine seemed to change (from David's point of view—the novel is entirely from his vantage). While at le Grau du Roi, Catherine announces "I have a big surprise," but does not tell David what it is other than to hint "Oh it's very simple but it's very complicated" and "...I'm going to be changed." She bicycles into town, then returns with "Her hair... cropped as short as a boy's." Later, that night, she tells him "Don't call me girl." and "Please love me David the way I am." and implies that he is changing also ("You are changing," she said. "Oh you are.