Hemingway’s Retreat

By J. Michael Moriarty

“It was with some pleasure I joined Hemingway on his literary and sporting tour of Ireland circa 1960.  He meets all the greats from the very grand Knight of Glin who was his guide, philosopher and friend.  They meet all the great literary figures of the day including John B. Keane in Listowel, where they take in a days racing.  They go on to meet Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney and a host of others.  To cap it off, the greatest horse trainer of his generation, Vincent O’Brien, meets them and they hunt with the iconic White Heather Harriers.  All in all a great read, particularly for Hibernophiles.” 

 

—Dickie Power,

Correspondent, The Irish Field

(The Voice of the Irish Equine Industry)

 

“On July 2, 1961 the world was not ready to let go of Ernest Hemingway.  In his debut novel Hemingway’s Retreat J. M. Moriarty proposes what if the world did not have to. The novel follows a defeated but not destroyed writer hiding and trying to find remnants of his former self.  It is a unique and engrossing tale, which unfolds in castles, pubs and the beautiful rolling hills of Ireland.”

 

—Raul Villarreal,

coauthor of Hemingway’s Cuban Son

 

 

The life of action and fame has finally caught up to Ernest Hemingway, prompting him to contemplate whether he can go on living. Now as he faces the age-old question of whether to live or to die, Ernest makes a life-altering decision to choose both.

 

After he fakes his demise, Hemingway is pronounced dead on July 2, 1961. While the world learns of his death, EMH transforms into Matt Fitzgerald. With the help of his friend, President Kennedy, he moves to Ireland to live in a castle with a cousin of the president. As his new life begins, Fitzgerald travels through Ireland, learning about its people and history. Even as he searches for peace, it is only a beginning for him. Although his will to live is still there, his ambition has been tempered. As Fitzgerald’s need to understand returns as a goal, his desire to tell basic stories becomes a driving force. Now the real question is whether his new life will keep him going or whether he will once again plunge into the darkness of depression.

 

Hemingway’s Retreat shares an imaginative account of what would have happened if the famous writer had faked his own death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Apr 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781480872844

J. Michael Moriarty

J. Michael Moriarty is a trial lawyer who started out as an investigative reporter in college. After a lifetime of lawyering, he has happily returned to his roots in his writing. Moriarty currently resides in Omaha, Nebraska, where he is working on two books—one about Hemingway and another about a young Hunter S. Thompson.

Book preview

Hemingway's

Retreat

J. MICHAEL MORIARTY

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Copyright © 2019 J. Michael Moriarty.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Certain characters in this work are historical figures, and certain events portrayed did take place. However, this is a work of fiction. All of the other characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Archway Publishing

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-7285-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-7283-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-7284-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019902344

Archway Publishing rev. date: 04/04/2019

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface0

Chapter 1    Back When

Chapter 2    Prepare to Die

Chapter 3    Not the Catholic Thing, You Know

Chapter 4    The Way Out

Chapter 5    New Me

Chapter 6    My Arrival in Ireland

Chapter 7    Awake in Ireland

Chapter 8    Visiting a Neighbor

Chapter 9    To County Kerry We Will Go

Chapter 10    Racing and John B.

Chapter 11    Return to Fitzgeraldland

Chapter 12    Visit to Ryan’s Scarteen

Chapter 13    Omaha Boots, Dirty Thirty, and Omaha Beach

Chapter 14    Poetry Comes to Town on Saturday Night

Chapter 15    Visiting Dublin

Chapter 16    Leaving Dublin

Chapter 17    The Expats in Cuba

Chapter 18    Sitting in an Irish Garden

Chapter 19    Hat Trick in Fethard

Chapter 20    Patriots Patriots Patriots

Chapter 21    Meeting Mary Kate Danaher

Chapter 22    The Last Reich

Dedicate

d to:

Frank Delaney

Rest in Peace

2/21/17

Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge all of those who inspired me to write about Mr. Hemingway. The list is long, but it starts at home with all my Moriarty Family: Mom, Dad, Tom, Jim, Donny. Then, of course, my own family with wife Jan and children Mac and Sheila. Plus, I also note my wonderful Mactier family. I also wish to extend thanks to Dana, Pam, Richard (RC), Casey and Kayla.

After family, I have to say I had a lot of help from a lifetime of great teachers, especially at Omaha Central High School, and University of Nebraska.

Also, my background being a reporter has helped immensely. When I once complained that an editor was really tough on reporters, the publisher (Warren Buffett) said, He was better than we deserved. Thank you School of Hard Knocks and the First Amendment.

I especially wish to thank all my friends from Ketchum, Idaho who have helped me understand their favorite son. Special thanks to neighbor and friend of EMH, Jack Crawford, whose stories shared about Hemingway have meant a great deal to me. And, I have appreciated meeting and interviewing Hemingway friends and scholars during Hemingway events in Idaho, including Bud Purdy and Valerie Hemingway.

I would be remiss to overlook friends who encouraged me to go forward. Harvey, Logan, Annie, Kevin G., Jordan, Melanie, Whitey, Nelly, Lu*, Lenora, Billy K., Joy, Sam, Lornie, Mason, Patrick, Courtney(s), Casino Staff (Dave, Coach, Gorby), ex-Casino Staff (Justin), Bird, Michel at Mr. Hemingway’s favorite restaurant The Christiania, the Voodoo children and Russell too. Also a shout out to Jimmy R. for his assistance with my historical research. Thank you all.

Preface

This is Sunday night July 2, 2017, the middle of a long July 4 weekend.

I have notified my young friends that today is the fifty-sixth year since the death of Ernest Miller Hemingway. He was sixty-one and was suffering from injuries and illnesses that caused him to take his own life. But things could’ve been different.

In fact, he could’ve continued living. Of course, he wouldn’t have been the same Hemingway. After all, his writing days seemed to be over—at least his novel writing.

So, what if destiny was altered and EMH did not die on July 2, 1961? Instead, he knew it was time for a major change. He needed to let the world know that the Hemingway people knew would be gone forever.

A new Hemingway would take his place.

The change would take place abroad, in Ireland. That’s right, the death of EMH was reported to the world. But, under a new identity, EMH left his life of fame and went to live with a cousin in an old castle in County Limerick, Ireland.

Why the story about EMH not dying and going off to Ireland to live? Well, mainly, I believe many of us were not ready for him to leave on this day fifty-six years ago. We want him back, at least for a while.

This story begins with the lead up to July 2, 1961, and the events after that take place in Ireland. It is not known how long he lives after July 2, 1961, but for the time being, he is alive and, though not totally well and healed, is doing better than expected, physically and mentally. It is time out for EMH in Ireland. Time to think. Time to reflect. Time to analyze. A chance to escape the pressures of fame and all of its trappings. As jazz musician and philosopher Thelonious Monk said, gives the man time for introspection. Away from New York and Hollywood. Away from the expectation of never-ending success. A chance to breathe.

I’ll let him do the rest of the explaining. After all, this is his story. His voice. His actions. His reflections on a life that he lived as the world-renowned author and his newfound awareness of some of his principles that may have been forgotten during the life of fame.

So, it is time to take a journey with EMH, now Matt Fitzgerald, in Ireland, 1961.

JMM July 2, 2017

P.S.: Upon reflection and review at the witching hour of midnight on July 4, 2017, it strikes me that this story is like the musical journey that Bono described years ago when explaining a new album.

The journey here is the trek to Ireland. The music is the theme of EMH’s life, the written word.

Bono was echoing the words of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky and others who have said there are only two stories to tell. A person goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town. We are also reminded of the hero in the great novel by Cervantes, Don Quixote. Quixote was also a sick man, physically and mentally, but he set out to travel and make his life one of adventure. He even thought he was living in a castle. By the way, the travel did help him regain his sanity. Comparisons abound, but so what. This is about Hemingway, not characters of culture, history, or literature.

The Truth is what Hemingway loved to talk about. He said that to write a book or story, you start with one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know, he said. Well, that’s what I want this story to be.

I want to bring him back. For whatever time we can steal from the Man above.

He was a father figure to many people around the world. Papa. And we miss him. Yes, we are aware of his problems, his failings, and his weaknesses. But just like a member of our own family, we look for the good in people. The story begins.

July 4, 2017

Chapter 1

Back When

So, everyone believes I died long ago and far away on July 2, 1961. Back when America was station wagons, Hula-Hoops, Popsicles, and fat cops. Kennedy was the new sheriff in town. Nixon was still the same dirty son-of-a-bitch loser that I had learned to hate when he had abused so many good people with his HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) bullshit. Many of those he and McCarthy had picked on were Jewish, and many were friends of mine.

It hadn’t been about protecting America from communists but more about punishing those among us who were anti-Nazi in the ’30s and ’40s.

I was very proud when my friend Gary Cooper had stood up to those bastards to proclaim the all-American virtues of members of the Hollywood Ten (the writers and directors who had stood up to the witch-hunters of Washington). All had been blacklisted and suffered greatly. Many lives had been ruined because of the McCarthy hearings and the work of old Richard Milhous Nixon.

Anyway, that was part of the backdrop in 1961.

For me, I was sick and I needed to—well, die or get out of town. I didn’t have the nerve to die, I have to admit. So, that’s what brings me here. Maybe I won’t write the Great American Novel ever again, but I’m still a reporter ’til the end. So, here I will report, just like when I was a cub reporter covering the traps of the Kansas City crime beat. What I’m trying to say is that from here on out, I’m just a simple reporter covering the details of my new life. And even if no one cares about this review of my new life, I still need to write things down to try to figure out who I am and what I’ve become.

So, this is my journal, post July 2, 1961.

Chapter 2

Prepare to Die

I had many friends who were doctors, and they were all telling me the same thing: you’re a wreck, and life is going to get more and more difficult for you. By way of background, I should tell you that I freely admit I have been hard on this body God gave me. That’s right, I said God, and I meant it. Even though I’m falling apart physically, I do realize I have enjoyed a