Set in Paris, New York and Havana in the 1950s and 60s, The Wildest Sun is the coming of age story of Delphine Auber, born to a single, alcoholic mother who was once a noted poet in Parisian literary circles. Delphine was a writer herself and was told by her mother that her father was acclaimed author Ernest Hemingway. Throughout the book we know there has been a murder but the circumstances are not revealed until the very end.

After being caregiver to her usually drunken mother , Delphine sets out after her mother’s death in search of her missing father. Her hope is that he will acknowledge her as well as her talent as an author. Believing Hemingway to be in NY, Delphine crosses the Atlantic and finds a warm reception and acceptance in the home of family friends in Harlem. There she learns some important and life altering lessons, Subsequent a traumatic experience and after she realizes her father is not in NY, Delphine sets off for Havana,

In Havana she meets Elian who will play an important role in this chapter of Delphine’s life. Eventually she makes acquaintance with Hemingway in a Cuba before Castro’s regime. This interesting bit of history helps carry the,plot forward. A time of self reckoning comes and Delphine must make a heart wrenching choice.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found the author’s descriptive and passionate writing style brought each setting and each character straight into my living room. Four shining stars for a book that will be published soon, on December 5, 2023. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing me with an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

A personal tragedy causes a young woman to flee Paris in search of the man she believes to be her father: Ernest Hemingway.

Delphine, born to a beautiful mother grows up in Paris believing that her father is the famed author, Earnest Hemingway. Whether that is true or not is beside the point as she leaves Paris amongst her budding adulthood to go out and find her mysterious father. What entails is a life she could never have expected.

I really gave this book a chance and paid attention and kept going along, but by after mid-point, my interested waned. I think perhaps it was the topic and storytelling? I'm not sure.

I think if you enjoy Earnest Hemingway you will appreciate this book as it follows his life a bit. Almost a walk in time with Hemingway.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the advance e-copy of this book.

Delphine is from Paris and decides to escape her traumatic life. She goes to Harlem, NYC and then to Cuba. A journey that she never would have expected. She is on a search for her birth father whom she believes to be Ernest Hemingway. Delphine herself aspires to be an author.
A coming of age story with mystery, family, secrets. As I read I just wanted to wrap Delphine in my arms and take care of her.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this book.

I LOVED this so much! I thought this was a beautiful coming of age story that also included a backstory of one of our literary giants. I couldn't put this book down!

After her mother's death, Delphine sets out to find the man her mother claimed is her father.
Her journey yakes her to Harlem where she resides with her mother's friends. When she learns
her father is in Cuba, she makes her way there and finds a way to meet him - Ernest Hemingway.
She hopes for his approval as a writer as well as being acknowledged as his daughter. But due to
the political climate changes in Cuba, she along with Heminway and others leave the island.
Delphine flees to Key West where she establishes herself as a wrier, using a pen name.
#TheWildestSun #NetGalley

This book has a compelling main character - though I questioned her choices at times - is flushed out well. It's the lack of depth of the other characters that fell short for me. I especially wish she had given Hemingway more of a voice.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“The Wildest Sun” is written in first person by a young woman from Paris, escaping her tough, traumatic past and her role in a horrid death that isn’t fully explained until the end of the novel. Delphine’s tale is filled with characters who advance or hinder her search for her birth father, whom she believes to be a man of fame, and her aspiring career as an author. In fact, I found her narration a better story than the descriptions of the books she eventually publishes. Delphine has a talent for getting herself involved in dramatic scenarios which makes for some excitement as the book progresses. I found the last section of the book most interesting, as it deals with both her alleged father and his adopted country, along with its revolutionary history. As much as Delphine flirts with trouble, she manages to succeed against the odds. Though I enjoyed “The Wildest Sun,” I was also disturbed by the great emphasis on money and privilege and her equating these with happiness as the book moves to its conclusion. I hoped that a woman who had experienced all that Delphine had, would not have been so shallow. She was terribly poor for most of her life and I wanted her to use her new wealth to make other lives better, rather than acquiring goods and property only for her own enjoyment and that of close friends. To her credit, she did reply to some of her own readers and encourage them. As a reader myself, I was both happy for her eventual achievements and dismayed by their lack of impact in the world around her.

Another voice that needs to be heard! Just like Fifity Words For Rain, this novel will pull heart heart and soul. This powerful post WWII novel is full of history from a new perspective. I absolutely love Asha Lemmie's writing!

The Wildest Sun is a coming-of-age story of Delphine Auber and her search to find her true parentage, the infamous and iconic Ernest Hemingway. From post-war Paris to Harlem NYC and then pre-revolutionary Cuba, Delphine’s on a quest to find out the truth, is she really the bastard child of a famous author and an alcoholic bohemian mother.

Having spent her whole life as a caretaker and the after thought of a love affair, Delphine for once needs to the chosen, accepted and become a part of a family she so desperately wants. While searching, she pens her own tales, proof that she carries the same artistic brilliance as Hemingway himself.

Lemmie writes a compelling story of a lost girl that is determined to become found, a cast of supporters that you fall in love with and a heroine that you want to take home and care for.

In Asha Lemmie’s latest novel, The Wildest Sun, Delphine has never known her father, but believes that famous author, Ernest Hemingway, is the man based on what she has learned about her mother’s relationship with him. So post WWII, she leaves Paris to travel to New York to find him. Staying with one of her mother’s friends, Blue, and his wife Delia in Harlem, she seeks to find out more about Hemingway. When she discovers that he isn’t in fact in New York (because she thought everybody came to New York) and is in Cuba, she tries to determine a way to get herself to him so she can meet him face-to-face.

In Cuba, she becomes friends, though reluctantly on her part, with Elian who she hires to take her around Havana and find out information about Hemingway. I will admit, the Cuba portion of the story lost some of the magic, in my opinion, that New York City had, but out of Cuba, we were introduced to the character of Elian that added a depth to the story that was missing. Lemmie has written an exploratory coming of age book that lets us see how much one changes based on life’s circumstances and the people along our path as we grow older. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the advanced copy. Opinions expressed are my own. This book is set for publication on December 5, 2023.

#netgalley #arc #bookstagram #thewildestsun #ashalemmie #penguinrandomhouse

I highly recommend THE WILDEST SUN, especially for fans of literary fiction and historical fiction. The author does a wonderful job of planting curiousity seeds to keep us turning the pages. The writing is top notch, and each scene is carefully crafted to ensure the reader feels a wonderful sense of place and atmosphere. Delphine is an engaging and realistic main character. She really comes to life as she interacts with the supporting cast. I was desperate to know whether Hemingway was Delphine's father and also what would happen with Elian in Cuba.

Content warnings for suicide and drug use.

I received an e-galley in exchange for my review; all opinions are my own.

Delphine Auber has spent her entire life believing that Ernest Hemingway was her father. Her mother a glamorous personality in the heyday of Paris has fed her this story. Now with her mother gone, Delphine sets out for America in search of her father. She lives in Harlem with friends of her mother, and begins to work on her novel, thinking this might endear her to Hemingway. Soon she discovers Hemingway is living in Havana and off she goes. An epic journey to discover who she really is in pre-Castro Cuba.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Delphine goes on a journey she never expected. She wanted to find some answers about her family. This journey will take her places she never imagined. This book took me on an adventure.

The prose is gorgeous and I hope this book wins all of the awards in the world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

This is a work of historical fiction and it was certainly an enjoyable read. Delphine is the French daughter of a single mom, a mom who has led a life of fun and partying, a life that left her pregnant with Delphine. She was not a fit mother, and she always told Delphine that her father was Ernest Hemingway. After her mothers apparent suicide Delphine leaves France in search of her Papa. She lands in New York, meets some savory characters and ultimately ends up in Cuba, where Papa lives. This is during the 1950's and Cuba is undergoing the stirrings of a revolution. There is a romance, calculated meetings with Mr. Hemingway and a lot of inner dialogue. The story moves along nicely, my only puzzling thought was why the New York section of the book was a part of the narrative at all. Still, I enjoyed this easy period piece immensely.

An enjoyable read that was well written. I loved the settings and the time frame that encompassed The Wildest Sun. Characters that I liked, and the growing up of Delphine. A good read.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. This is my honest review.

This was a very different book from what I expected, but the plot line is intriguing. Although it took a decade for Delphine to grow up and find herself as she is. The parts about Harlem, Cuba and key West were interesting and well-described times in history.

The Wildest Sun is my new favorite book. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that truly had a unique storyline. I had no idea where the story would go and what would become of Delphine. At first I didn’t care for Delphine, but then she became my hero. My only complaint is I wish Ernest would have responded to the last letter. But I guess that wouldn’t have helped Delphine grow up, move on, and be the strong woman she becomes. Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book! It was a winner!

The Wildest Sun is a book that I thought I would enjoy but I never connected with Asha Lemmie’s characters, story or post WW2 setting. I love historical fiction but I did not enjoy this story at all because I never believed the story or characters.