We Were the Bullfighters by Marianne K. Miller

A Fiction Review by James M. Fisher

Is there an Ernest Hemingway revival underway that I do not know about? In the past few months, I’ve read two works of creative fiction in which he has appeared as a central character. The first was Jerrod Edson’s excellent The Boulevard and now, Marianne K. Miller’s fine debut novel We Were the Bullfighters. 

In the former, Papa appeared as most might picture him, in his later years, as a hard-drinking man and accomplished author. In the latter, we find him in Toronto in the early Twenties with his wife Hadley, working as a staff reporter for the Toronto Daily Star (which is all true).  

We also meet Norman “Red” Ryan, another historical figure, as an escaped criminal from the Kingston penitentiary. We Were the Bullfighters is a work of true crime meets creative fiction.  

As a lowly staff reporter (he doesn’t even get a byline) Ernest is sent by his editor to Kingston to cover the prison break (also true). Hemingway sees himself as more of an investigative reporter than a hack journalist who turns in articles to fill space on a page. He admires the tenacity of Red and his gang that escaped and their successfully eluding capture in the woods north of Kingston. The gang eventually splits with Red and Arthur “Sully” Sullivan making their way to Toronto. 

We Were the Bullfighters alternates between the storylines, giving Hemmingway and Red Ryan equal billing. It makes for a fascinating, page-turning read, and Ms. Miller is successful in creating a hardboiled, succinct writing style that suits the mood of the times and the toughness of both a criminal on the run and a writer trying to scrape by on a job and in a place where he doesn’t want to be. Ryan is free, while Hemingway feels imprisoned in his life and by his position at the Daily Star. He dearly wants to follow Ryan on his escapades and a clandestine meeting between the two only serves to strengthen Ernest’s resolve to make changes to his life while he is still young. 

Red stands up and stamps out his cigarette. "You know what? If you're wasting your time, then do something about it. Believe me that's what we were all thinking in Kingston Pen. We saw our chance to remedy our situation. It was a big risk, but we took it." 

Perhaps Ms. Miller thought writing a novel with Hemingway and Ryan as the main protagonists was taking a risk¹, but it certainly proved worth taking, and kudos to Dundurn Press for publishing it. Fans of crime fiction would enjoy this novel, and one doesn’t have to be familiar with Hemingway’s early years to be entertained by We Were the Bullfighters. Recommended. 

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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.

Book Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dundurn Press (May 28 2024)

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1459753607

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1459753600

1. We Were the Bullfighters is based on a short work of non-fiction that Ms. Miller had previously written.