Synopses & Reviews
Review
"With girlish enthusiasm, Marion Merriman remembers her husband Robert, whose 'sense of adventure' led him from Reno to Berkeley to Moscow, and finally to Spain, where he commanded the Abraham Lincoln Brigades against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Part travelogue, part ideological journey, part memoir, this book is a lively, moving account of the Merrimans' dual commitment to the republican cause (she was the only woman officially attached to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade). Her tale encompasses the now famous battles of El Jarama, Brunete, and Teruel, and meetings with Hemingway (who based his character Robert Jordon in For Whom the Bell Tolls in part on Merriman), John Dos Passos, and Josephine Herbst. It draws upon her own memories, Robert's diaries and letters, newspaper accounts, and journalists' dispatches to recount a double story of love and war. Robert Merriman disappeared in Spain in April 1938." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)