Hills Like White Elephants

A couple’s future hangs in the balance as they wait for a train in a Spanish café in this short story by a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize–winning author.

At a small café in rural Spain, a man and woman have a conversation while they wait for their train to Madrid. The subtle, casual nature of their talk masks a more complicated situation that could endanger the future of their relationship.

First published in the 1927 collection Men Without Women, “Hills Like White Elephants” exemplifies Ernest Hemingway’s style of spare, tight prose that continues to win readers over to this day.