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In 1920 Ernest Hemingway lived his bachelor life at 1230 North State Street, Chicago, until he was offered an apartment in a large old house at 100 East Chicago Street. Many of the apartments were occupied by writers, including Hadley Richardson's friend, Kate Smith, who later married John Dos Passos. Another of the apartments was occupied by the painter, Kenley Smith, and it was when Kate Smith invited Hemingway to a party in Kenley's apartment, that he spotted Hadley Richardson - a young woman he'd seen playing the piano at a recital some years before.

The couple hit it off immediately and both of them soon realised they had met the person they wanted to marry. Maybe both saw in the other the renegade in themselves and a kindred spirit. They both had a love of literature, art, and music, and were looking for a secure place to deposit their emotions. But they were also bursting with sexual desires and frustrations.

Hadley was eight years older than Hemingway and a woman who, at first sight, was of rather conventional looks, but a woman with an aura of oozing sensuality. She also looks remarkably like Hemingway's mother.

Hadley Richardson was born in St.Louis on the 9th of November, 1891, and was the youngest of four children. Her father, James, as Bernice Kert, describes him: " ...was a genial man who had reluctantly assumed an executive position with the family drug company. Her mother, Florence, was a talented musician who often accompanied her husband on the piano as he sang out in his fine baritone voice. But in other important ways, they were incompatible. Florence had a driving intellectual curiosity, was never at ease in a frivolous setting, and was intensely interested in religion."

After a serious childhood fall from a second-floor window - after which she spent many months in bed - Hadley's parents became somewhat over protective, although her father did try to treat her as normally as possible by showing "endless patience for her childish games. " Not unnaturally a deep bond grew between the two of them, which was shattered when James shot himself due to financial difficulties. As a result of this tragic event (which of course mirrored Hemingway's own experience with his father) Hadley became extremely withdrawn, a situation that was not helped by her mother, who, after moving to a smaller house, created a household where alcohol, and any form of light-heartedness were strictly forbidden.

Only after leaving school, and moving to Bryn Mawr College,

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