“In her debut novel, Marianne K. Miller renders a little-explored time in Hemingway’s life with the accurate eye of the Hemingway scholar she happens to be, but also with boldness and keen imagination. I turned every page of We Were the Bullfighters with great pleasure and admiration. " 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
“Miller’s writing effectively combines the flawed heroes and unsentimental settings of hard-boiled crime fiction with an economical style that creates bold, memorable images of both [Ernest Hemingway and Red Ryan] on their parallel journeys.” Sarah Johnson, Historical Fiction Society Reviews
“We Were The Bullfighters is a skillfully written, action-packed historical tale about Hemingway at a significant but vulnerable transition point. At the same time, it’s a nuanced portrait of a literary giant that will contribute to the canon of writing about him.” Bev Sandell Greenberg, The Winnipeg Free Press
A window into Canada's role in the making of Ernest Hemingway in clear, clean prose. Lee Gowan, author of The Beautiful Place
Kim Echlin, author of Speak, Silence
In this wonderful story, the young Ernest Hemingway is a Toronto Daily Star reporter who feels a strange connection to legendary bank robber, Red Ryan. 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 convicts” and people choose what they will sacrifice for freedom.
J.R. McConvey, author of Different Beasts
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.
Barbara Fradkin, author of the Inspector Green and Amanda Doucette mysteries.
Skillfully capturing the wild, rum-running 1920s, Marianne 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.
