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The Wildest Sun

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Following her New York Times bestselling debut Fifty Words for Rain , Asha Lemmie's next sweeping and evocative novel follows a young woman escaping her past in postwar Paris as she searches for the larger-than-life man she believes to be her father. 

When tragedy sends Delphine Auber, an aspiring writer on the cusp of adulthood, from her home in Paris, she seizes the opportunity to embark on the journey she's long dreamed finding the father she has never known. But her quest is complicated by the fact that she believes her father to be a famed literary icon, Ernest Hemingway, a man just as elusive as he is iconic. She desperately yearns for his approval, as both a daughter and a writer, convinced that he holds the answer to who she's truly meant to be. But what will happen if she is wrong, or if her real story falls outside of the legend of her parentage that she’s revered all her life? 

The answer takes her from Paris to New York’s Harlem, to Havana and Key West, as Delphine fights to find her own triumphant place in the world and within herself, outside of the shadow of the myths she’s forged so strongly into her identity. Epically rendered as only Asha Lemmie’s vivid and lyrical voice can, The Wildest Sun is a dazzling and unexpected coming-of-age story about an unforgettable young woman who must come to terms with who she is and who she wants to be.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2023

152 people are currently reading
18369 people want to read

About the author

Asha Lemmie

5 books866 followers
Asha Lemmie is the New York Times bestselling author of Fifty Words For Rain and The Wildest Sun. She holds a BA in English Literature from Boston College and is currently a graduate student at Columbia University. She resides in New York City but can frequently be found wandering. Asha writes historical fiction that focuses on bringing unique perspectives to life.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 306 reviews
Profile Image for Terrie  Robinson.
648 reviews1,397 followers
December 21, 2023
The Wildest Sun by Asha Lemmie is a Blend of Historical and Literary Fiction!

Sixteen-year-old Delphine Aber has nothing left to keep her in 1945 Paris as the city begins rising from the ashes of war. Leaving her childhood behind, she embarks on the long-awaited journey in search of the father she has never met: Ernest Hemingway.

Upon arriving in New York City, an old friend of her mother's, Joseph LaBere, and his wife Delia provide Delphine with a room above their restaurant in Harlem. She works at the restaurant, attends school, and quickly learns to speak English.

Delphine leaves New York for Cuba and in Havana, she sees and speaks to her Papa for the first time. She is eighteen with dreams of becoming a famous writer just like him....

The Wildest Sun is a coming-of-age story told in a first-person narrative of the protagonist, Delphine, as she searches for her father and her own identity. I enjoy the book's structure with dates and places clearly labeled at the front and within the chapters of varied length. This is the first book I've read by this author and I found her writing to be clear, concise, and easy to read. I flew through the pages of this novel.

With that said, my struggle with the story is connecting with Delphine. She is mature for her age based on her upbringing, but I couldn't embrace her poor choices throughout the story. With palpable passion in the efforts to find her father, her methods sometimes seemed feral and off-putting. Her behavior and mindset kept me at a distance and I couldn't get to the other side of it.

The Wildest Sun was an immersion read with a physical Advanced Reading Copy and my own audiobook. Imana Jade Powers does a remarkable narration as she becomes the voice of Delphine Aber.

Although I enjoyed reading and listening to this well-written, engaging, and creative story, I believe it would have stood out to me more had I read it before, rather than after, one of the most beautiful books I've read this year. I plan to read Lemmie's debut novel Fifty Words for Rain soon and I recommend The Wildest Sun to those who enjoy the blend of Historical and Literary Fiction as much as I do!

3.75⭐rounded up!

Thank you to Penguin Random House - Dutton, and Asha Lemmie for a physical ARC of this book through Shelf Awareness Pro giveaway. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
Profile Image for Nursebookie.
2,889 reviews451 followers
January 3, 2024
The Wildest Sun
A Novel
by Asha Lemmie

I am a huge fan of Ernest Hemingway so when I read the blurb on this book, I immediately knew this was a book I wanted to read. The Wildest Sun by Asha Lemmie follows a woman named Delphine, who believes her father to be the literary figure Ernest Hemingway. The story is an engaging and beautifully written, historical fiction. The story is set in beautiful Paris, New York, and Havana, as a woman searches over a decade for who she is. I enjoyed this beautiful book and everyone should read this.
Profile Image for Melodi | booksandchicks .
1,048 reviews93 followers
November 8, 2023
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.
613 reviews17 followers
August 20, 2023
Delphine Auber and her mother survive WW II life in Paris, but their lives are not much improved. Her educated mother, a poet, had enjoyed the company of the literary set in Paris that included some of the most famous American writers. By the time Delphine was born in 1929, her father had moved on with his second wife and her unwed mother was disowned by her family. So Delphine's childhood meant taking care of her mother during her severe alcoholism, a responsibility from which she would spend many years struggling to find herself and become the writer she longed to be.

She grew up hearing her mother's stories about the man she said was Delphine's father. She read his books again and again, and was determined that she would go in search of the great man himself. Her search took her to New York, Key West and Havana. But what proof did she have that he was truly her "Papa?"

Delphine's exploits, at times shocking or criminal, were beyond a normal life for a teenager, and if survival meant being feral, lying, or stealing, she took her chances. But rather than look at her critically, the reader gains sympathy and insight into the importance of adults in the lives of young people.

The book is described as a "coming- of- age" story, and I wasn't sure it would appeal to me, but my attention was captured from the beginning and it was difficult to put down. I enjoyed it immensely. The originality of the plot, the interesting characters, and the fine writing.

Penguin Random House provided me with an advance copy of the book which goes on sale in December 2023.

Book groups will find it an interesting choice.

One last thought I want to add is that Delphine's story shows how much it means for a writer to be published. They invest their lives, body and soul, into their project, and then face the uncertainty of approval or devastation by publishers, critics, and the readership.
Profile Image for MaryBeth's Bookshelf.
528 reviews98 followers
June 24, 2023
The Wildest Sun is Asha Lemmie's follow-up to her debut novel. Here we meet Delphine who has just survived World War II in France. She sets off to America to find her father - Ernest Hemingway and spends the next decade searching for him and herself.

I thought the plot of the story sounded very interesting and I love Lemmie's writing style. I did struggle to connect with Delphine a bit as I was confused and frustrated by her choices, but the beautiful, lyrical nature of the writing more than made up for it. It had a bit of a Forrest Gump feel as Delphine finds herself in the middle of many historical events in history. All in all, a good read.
Profile Image for Shannon.
8,338 reviews425 followers
November 19, 2023
3.5 rounded up.

This was a moving coming of age historical fiction novel about Ernest Hemmingway's illegitimate biracial daughter, Delphine, who travels from Paris to Cuba and back again to confront him about her parentage. Beautifully written and wonderful on audio narrated by Imani Jade Powers. I have never read anything by Hemmingway but this was still a related story about found family, toxic parental relationships and aspiring writers, set against the backdrop of post WWII Paris and the Cuban revolution. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

CW: suicide, alcoholism
Profile Image for Jill.
724 reviews40 followers
December 11, 2023
4.5 🌟
Very interesting historical fiction, told through the eyes of a young woman of color who comes of age in Paris, Harlem, and Havana, Cuba.

Especially poignant for fans of early 20th century literature.

Really fantastic audio narration, and I read the hardcover as well.

TW: alcoholism, suicide
128 reviews
February 1, 2024
A bildungsroman in which the protagonist is writing a bildungsroman because she thinks she's Hemingway's daughter. Like a woman in a Hemingway novel, the whole thing lacks depth.

Lost a star for most superficial treatment of the Cuban Revolution.
Profile Image for Maria.
194 reviews94 followers
Want to read
August 3, 2023
Asha Lemmie wrote a new book?! Fifty Words for Rain has a special place on my favorites shelf. Based on that alone I didn't even read the synopsis, just put this on my tbr.
Profile Image for Judy.
1,966 reviews461 followers
July 19, 2024
A reading group friend offered to lend me this novel. Since we had both read and loved the author’s previous novel, Fifty Words for Rain, I accepted. I loved it even more than the first.

Delphine is a young adult living in postwar Paris when her mother dies. She had always believed that her father was Ernest Hemingway, one of her mother’s lovers. At least that is what her mother had implied.

Delphine has grown up before her years, defiant and ambitious, so she heads to New York City where she has a friend and after struggling there finally embarks on a journey to Havana, Cuba. She hopes to find Hemingway, to have him accept her and help her become the writer she wants to be.

If this all sounds somewhat improbable, it is. But Asha Lemmie is such a good writer that she made me believe. Then she went further and turned it into a quite probable story that kept me reading as fast as I could until I reached the excellent end.

I can’t bear to reveal any more of the plot because the discovery of Delphine’s destiny was what I loved most.
Profile Image for Chapters of Chase.
934 reviews427 followers
December 2, 2023
The Wildest Sun
Thank you, Dutton Books + PRH Audio, for the gifted book + audiobook of The Wildest Sun!

Genre: Historical Fiction
Trope: Coming of age
Format: 🎧
Audiobook Narration: ☆☆☆☆
Pub Date: 12.5.2023
Star Rating: ☆☆☆


"I have only this fragile flesh, a voice, and time. So little time."


From Paris to New York to Cuba, I followed Delphine as she traversed the globe in search of the father she'd never known, only heard story after story about. Her father is the master storyteller himself - Ernest Hemingway.

While I did enjoy the author's attention to detail and how she painted the perfect picture of Delphine's adventures while she searched for her father, there was just something lacking from the story itself.

After she left New York, I lost my footing with the novel because it seemed to be taking on something different from what I had initially believed. This is likely my fault because I've always been interested in Hemingway and expected to see more of him throughout the pages. But I got little snippets of him sprinkled throughout, and in the end, I had more questions than answers.

However, I did enjoy reading along as Delphine learned to write her own story, and while she may have started writing to impress her father, she eventually did it for herself.

📖 Lyrical writing
🧐 Historical tidbits
😬 Very little about Hemingway
👍🏼 Self-Discovery
👧🏽 YA Vibe
🕰️ Spans several decades


If you enjoy reading about the 1940s and 1950s, add The Wildest Sun to your reading list! Not a fan of that period, tell me your favorites below 👇🏼



______


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Profile Image for Anna Dundas.
79 reviews3 followers
September 29, 2023
I really enjoyed reading this book, and didn’t want it to end. Delphine Auber is a irreverent, moody young woman battling personal demons in a society that still expects women to be meek and polite. She is neither. Set in the 1950s and 60’s in Paris , New York and Havana, touching on many social issues from that time. A Bildungsroman about writing a Bildungsroman.
Thank you to the author, #ashalemmie and the publisher for the advanced reading copy. The book will be available December 2023.
Profile Image for Adena.
271 reviews6 followers
December 12, 2023
3.5 stars rounded down. Not anywhere as good as Fifty Words for Rain, but some of the emotional scenes are written so well that your heart rips in two.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
3,016 reviews165 followers
June 27, 2024
Aspiring writer Delphine searches for the biological father she's never met. Is he really Ernest Hemingway as her mother claims?

I typically enjoy coming of age stories, but unfortunately, this one never drew me in. Her path to her father was slow and along the way, she stopped to nurse a friend Teddy through addiction. After all, she's had plenty of practice after doing the same for her troubled mother. It seems to me like she would have been better off spending her inheritance trying to find HERSELF instead of her deadbeat father.

Location: Paris, New York City, Key West, and Havana

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Audiobook
Profile Image for Andre.
155 reviews17 followers
February 10, 2024
I’ll hang in there with Asha Lemmie. This is only her second book.

The main character Delphine is on a quest to find her alleged father, Ernest Hemingway. She leaves France, lands in Harlem, and winds up in Cuba. And we’re supposed to believe this 18-year-old girl is a writer. Here she is exposed to all the big isms of the day—racism and communism—but she’s wholly protected as a French girl in America. The Black Harlem couple take her in and love and protect her. The Afro-Cuban man takes her in and loves and protects her. Nothing about this work of historical fiction is believable.
Profile Image for Gail Nelson.
569 reviews14 followers
December 24, 2023
3.5 stars. Loved her first novel. Had great hopes for the second...
Profile Image for Molly.
103 reviews1 follower
March 5, 2024
I was completely underwhelmed. I really wanted to find something redeeming about this book, but I just …didn’t like it. The narrative felt disjointed in the later parts of the story. Some of the characterizations were inconsistent (Javier can’t be idle, and takes a job he doesn’t need, and volunteers with children, and was too busy studying to spend time with his sister, but then he’s suddenly a poor student and a lazy man?) For as much as Delphine goes on about not trusting or liking men and valuing feminist ideals, she still spent most of the book running around after a man and didn’t seem to actually reflect on that or learn much from it. Everything that was built up (the circumstances of her mother’s death, her encounters with Hemingway, her coming of age) was resolved in an underwhelming way. Not merely in the content of the resolutions but in the execution. If this book had a point that hasn’t been made in dozens of other works, I missed it completely.
Profile Image for Iulia.
Author 5 books19 followers
March 21, 2025
Intriguing Story of Self Discovery
A beautiful bildungsroman with a central female character, who journeys between three very different cultures (French, American, Cuban), in search of her own identity, redemption and acceptance, this book presents youth and maturity, friendship and love, beyond tradițional social boundaries and an unusually winding path from childhood trauma to learning and healing.
Starting in the aftermath of WWII, the action brilliantly focuses on the individuals and their personal struggles, which unfold on the background of large social turmoil, describing the agency they hold over their own destinies, despite doubts, feelings of guilt or inadequacy, confusion about the future.
Very hopeful ending.
Profile Image for Kris.
229 reviews11 followers
April 21, 2025
Story follows a young woman named Delphine whi is led to believe that Ernest Hemingway is her father. The story follows her from Paris to New York to Cuba. The first 2/3 other book were a little slow for me. Though I sympathized with Delphine's difficult childhood, I found her a little petulant & whiny. The last third of the book, set during the Cuban Revolution was great. I would have liked more detail on that. I liked that all the chapters were clearly dated which made the chronology easy to follow.
Profile Image for Jessi - TheRoughCutEdge.
646 reviews31 followers
November 19, 2023

Pub day: December 5

Beginning in the late 1940s the young woman, Delphine, leaves Paris and embarks on a fifteen year journey that includes time in New York and Havana.

The main focus of the book is her self-exploration and growth as a woman and writer. It’s a coming-of-age character-driven story with a slower pace and some heavy content. There were moments that it felt sluggish but most of the time I thought the flow and writing style were good. The end was actually my favorite so I’m very glad I kept with it.

Thank you Penguin Group Dutton for the arc via Netgalley in exchange for my honest feedback.
Profile Image for Aimee Borden.
376 reviews3 followers
June 12, 2024
Decent read not the best I didn’t feel invested in the FMC throughout the whole book but I’m still glad I read it.
537 reviews6 followers
December 13, 2023
This is one of the best books I've read this year. Her writing is beautiful, I could picture myself in all of the locales she wrote about, and her characters are brought alive in her writing. The story is about a Parisian teen, Delphine, whose mother has always has told her that her father is a famous American. After her mother's death in September 1945, Delphine travels to NYC to stay with a friend of her mom's and his wife and search for her father. Her travels take her to Cuba, back to NYC and finally back to Paris. She has many adventures along the way. It is about overcoming adversity with grit and determination in order to shine. I couldn't put it down. I'll definitely check out her other books.
Profile Image for Nathalia.
468 reviews2 followers
December 18, 2023
A beautiful Bildungsroman told through the eyes of a young French girl who grows up way too quickly. Her struggle through tragedies that would crush most people keeps you rooting for her and the chosen family that help her survive. Uplifting and moving. Add this to your TBR.
Profile Image for Amanda.
463 reviews4 followers
December 13, 2023
I loved Asha Lemmie's debut, Fifty Words for Rain. It was one of my top reads of 2020. When I had the chance to read The Wildest Sun, I wasn't sure how it would measure up -- Would I love Asha's sophomore novel just as much? Without a doubt, the answer is yes. The Wildest Sun is, at its core, a growing-up story, but it's so much more than that. It's about loss and friendship, the ability to trust and to find your place in the world.. which isn't maybe where you expected it to be. It;s about being true to yourself, despite the world trying to make you conform to something else. Delphine is a phenomenal character, and The Wildest Sun is now destined to be one of my top reads of 2023.
Profile Image for Cammy.
747 reviews
December 28, 2023
It was a good story, and Delphine is a very lucky woman. All through her travels she was safe. A very fortunate woman. This story is about a 16/17 year old girl traveling from France to New York. Actually she ran away because she thought she was the cause of her mother’s suicide. She runs way to Harlem in New York to stay with her mother’s friend who owns a diner. All on her quest to find her supposed father Earnest Hemingway. Her mother has always told her that he was her father and that she never told Hemingway that she was pregnant.

After a year, she finds out that he is in Cuba, and then she heads off to Cuba. She ends up living there for about ten years and becomes friends with Javier a rich local. When political tensions rise Hemingway is getting ready to leave. And so this is the time after becoming acquaintances with Hemingway that she delivers a hand written letter to him and she instructs him to open it when he is happy. And Delphine decides to go back to France. And then she also becomes a famous writer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Laura A.
612 reviews95 followers
August 13, 2023
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.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 306 reviews

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