Sara and Gerald Murphy were wealthy Americans who moved to Paris in 1921 and several years later bought a villa on the French Riviera, naming it Villa America. They moved in a circle of highly creative and literary friends, among them were the Fitzgeralds, Pablo Picasso, Archibald MacLeish, John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, and Robert Benchley, to name a few. The novel is the fictional story of the Murphys from the early 1900’s to the late 1930’s, and centers on the important relationships in their lives. Sara and Gerald had their share of heartaches, losing two of their three children, but amazingly their marriage survived. Their story has many intriguing details :Sara was painted several times by Picasso, and Gerald himself painted several important pieces in the 1920’s during his brief career as an artist. Two of his paintings, Razor and Watch are on permanent display at the Dallas Museum of Art.
