When Ernest Hemingway was undergoing electro-convulsive treatment for depression and paranoia in 1961, he was cared for by the Franciscan nuns of St Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. He inscribed a copy of The Old Man and the Sea for Sister Immaculata, hoping to write another for her when “the writing luck is running well again”. He added, and underlined: “And it will.” He was 61 years old, and his handwriting was so clear and elegant and firm you read it and you share his hope. Sixteen days later he killed himself with his favourite shotgun.
