cover image Nothing Ever Happens to the Brave: The Story of Martha Gellhorn

Nothing Ever Happens to the Brave: The Story of Martha Gellhorn

Carl Rollyson. St. Martin's Press, $24.95 (398pp) ISBN 978-0-312-05125-9

Of Gellhorn, journalist and author of 15 books, an acquaintance once said, ``Martha had real brains, beauty and the body of a Circe.'' Yet Gellhorn, now in her 80s, has seen her accomplishments overshadowed by her brief and stormy marriage to Ernest Hemingway. In this entertaining and revealing biography, Rollyson ( Lillian Hellman ) allows Gellhorn to stand on her own two feet. Spirited, restless and dedicated to social progressivism, Gellhorn early on forsook the security of her affluent St. Louis, Mo., family for adventure, most notably as a daring war correspondent. Rollyson frames a picture of her courage, contrariness and complexity, and in the process further dismantles the Hemingway legend. Photos not seen by PW. (Dec.)