We Were the Bullfighters

Sent to cover bank robber Red Ryan’s daring prison break, a young Ernest Hemingway becomes fascinated with the convicts. In 1923, Ernest Hemingway struggles with the responsibilities of marriage and unexpected fatherhood. For the baby’s first year, he decides to interrupt his fledgling writing career and leave Paris for North America. No longer a freelancer, he now has a gruelling job with a difficult boss. He’s a staff reporter for The Toronto Daily Star. On his first day, feeling hemmed in by circumstances, he’s sent to cover a prison break at Kingston Pen. He becomes fascinated with the escaped convicts and their willingness to risk everything for freedom. We Were the Bullfighters follows the connection between aspiring writer, Hemingway, and the leader of the escapees, the notorious bank robber, Norman “Red” Ryan. Hemingway searches for them everywhere, in the bush north of Kingston and on the streets of Toronto and New York. In the course of his search, Hemingway ponders the nature of freedom and duty, and what stops a man from pursuing his dreams?

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