We Were the Bullfighters - by Marianne K Miller (Paperback)

About the Book

"Sent to cover bank robber Red Ryan's daring prison break, a young Ernest Hemingway becomes fascinated with the convicts. In 1923, Ernest Hemingway struggles with the responsibilities of marriage and unexpected fatherhood. For the baby's first year, he decides to interrupt his fledgling writing career and leave Paris for North America. No longer a freelancer, he now has a gruelling job with a difficult boss. He's a staff reporter for The Toronto Daily Star. On his first day, feeling hemmed in by circumstances, he's sent to cover a prison break at Kingston Pen. He becomes fascinated with the escaped convicts and their willingness to risk everything for freedom. We Were the Bullfighters follows the connection between aspiring writer, Hemingway, and the leader of the escapees, the notorious bank robber, Norman "Red" Ryan. Hemingway searches for them everywhere, in the bush north of Kingston and on the streets of Toronto and New York. In the course of his search, Hemingway ponders the nature of freedom and duty, and what stops a man from pursuing his dreams?"--

Book Synopsis

FINALIST, 2025 BEST FIRST NOVEL, CRIME WRITERS OF CANADA AWARD

"A window into Canada's role in the making of Ernest Hemingway in clear, clean prose." -- Lee Gowan, author of The Beautiful Place

Sent to cover bank robber Red Ryan's daring prison break, a young Ernest Hemingway becomes fascinated with the convict.

In 1923, Ernest Hemingway, struggling with the responsibilities of marriage and unexpected fatherhood, has just made a big mistake. He decided that for the baby's first year he would interrupt his fledgling writing career in Paris and move his family to North America. No longer a freelancer, he now has a gruelling job with a difficult boss, as a staff reporter for the Toronto Daily Star. On his first day, already feeling hemmed in by circumstances, he's sent to cover a prison break at Kingston Pen.

The escaped convicts, led by notorious bank robber Norman "Red" Ryan, are on the run, making their way from the bush north of Kingston, to the streets of Toronto, and then through towns and cities across the United States. Their crimes become more brazen, their lifestyle increasingly glamorous. Growing more and more preoccupied with Ryan and his willingness to risk everything to be free, Hemingway ponders duty, freedom, and what stops a man from pursuing his dreams.

Review Quotes

A window into Canada's role in the making of Ernest Hemingway in clear, clean prose.-- "Lee Gowan, author of The Beautiful Place"

In her debut novel, Marianne K. Miller renders a little-explored time in Hemingway's life with the accurate eye of the Hemingway scholar, but also with boldness and keen imagination.-- "Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife"

Intriguing. Hardboiled. Cinematic. We Were the Bullfighters is a truly fine romp of a novel!-- "Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, author of Wait Softly Brother"

Marianne Miller brings a deceptively light touch to this evocative and finely researched story of a colourful moment in the life of a burgeoning literary giant. With efficient language that Hemingway would have liked, she gives us a rollicking tale of escaped convicts on the run from Kingston Pen, and the young Toronto crime reporter in pursuit of a story and a literary path. We Were the Bullfighters wonderfully captures the character of Hemingway and the atmosphere of Toronto in the 1920s.-- "J.R. McConvey, author of Different Beasts"

Miller's expertise on Hemingway and her penetrating observations about our responsibilities to our talents makes this a must-read historical fiction in which 'artists are like convict' and people choose what they will sacrifice for freedom.-- "Kim Echlin, author of Speak, Silence"

Skillfully capturing the wild, rum-running 1920s, Miller creates a fascinating, fictionalized tale of two men fighting to break free: one, a young Hemingway dreaming of his first great novel and the other, a daring bank robber on the run from Kingston Penitentiary.-- "Barbara Fradkin, author of the Inspector Green Mystery series"

About the Author

Marianne K. Miller is a graduate of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Toronto. As an independent scholar and member of The Hemingway Society, she presented a paper, Hemingway in Toronto, at the 18th International Hemingway Conference in Paris, France. We Were the Bullfighters is her debut novel. She lives in Toronto.