Whitehead (The Rage of Plum Blossoms) delivers an immersive fictional imagining of the life of the fictional Finn Hemingway, a daughter of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley. When Finn leaves her Chicago home to attend a Connecticut boarding school at the age of 14, intent on eventually becoming a lawyer, she falls in love with Nick Armstrong, a relationship soon tested when he enlists in the Marines during the second World War while carries through with her quest for a legal career, attending Smith College and eventually enrolling in law school. Finn does not live with her famous father, but they correspond regularly, and she spends treasured time with him when not in school, as she tries to understand his fractured relationships with women.
The heart of Whitehead’s richly emotional narrative is Finn’s journey of self-discovery and her desire to forge her own path in the shadow of her father’s notoriety. Hemingway’s Daughter draws on the storied author’s history to address controversies surrounding his novels—and once-pressing allegations that he supported communism—adding realism and credibility to the conceit of an imagined daughter. Whitehead expertly develops Finn, interspersing (invented) letters from her father and (actual) quotes from his books into the text. The letters, playfully reminiscent of Hemingway’s famous style, find him offering support for his daughter while noting the vital role that writing plays in his life. Finn’s complexity comes through as she fights against boarding school bullying and addresses how her physical appearance and height run contrary to societal standards.
Whitehead emphasizes her similarities to her father—namely, their mutual struggles with alcoholism and its potential to overshadow their brilliance. Finn’s innermost feelings about her father will resonate most with readers, as she closes this compelling narrative: “He was flawed and fabulous, mean-spirited bully and most gracious of men, driven wordsmith and drunken raconteur, braggart and humble man, international icon and Midwestern boy, all of it. It was all true.”
Takeaway: Ernest Hemingway’s fictional daughter comes to life in a compelling and nuanced story of love, inheritance, and making your own way.
Great for fans of: Erika Robuck’s Hemingway’s Girl, Naomi Wood’s Mrs. Hemingway
Hemingway’s Daughter: A Novel - Hemingway Had Three Sons but Longed for a Daughter, Now He Has One
NEWS PROVIDED BY
EIN Presswire
Mar 13, 2023, 2:17 PM ET
Novel: Hemingway's Daughter
Praise from Mariel Hemingway for her Fictional Aunt, the Heroine of Hemingway’s Daughter
HARTFORD, CT, UNITED STATES, March 13, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Ken Burns and Lynn Novick showcased Hemingway’s charismatic personality and devastating life in their PBS special last year. Hemingway was a literary giant famous for tough books with hard truths, a macho persona, and a fecklessness with women, be they wives or lovers. What if the most-manly man in 1940 America has a daughter who confronts him about his treatment of the women in his life and impacts some of his masterpieces? And what if this daughter has a passion to be the next Clarence Darrow in an era when Harvard comfortably blares the headline “Women Unwanted in Law,” and law firms without guilt hire men from the bottom of the law school heap rather than consider women at the top.
In this reimagining, Christine M. Whitehead blesses Hemingway with the daughter he's always wanted, but she's not thrilled with her lot in life. Zelda Fitzgerald has assured her she's not pretty; her father is 100% reliable 60% of the time; she learns early that for the Hemingways, love always ends, and usually badly; and she finds all legal doors locked before she even knocks on them. And, while Hemingway is often presented in books and film as a misogynist, Hemingway’s Daughter reconsiders that point of view as it portrays a lovely if halting father/daughter dance of love, strain, longing, and compassion based on documented data. Hemingway’s Daughter speaks to the universal truths of love both fleeting and lasting, the culture of alcoholism and its victims, blended and then unblended families, and women’s special challenges no matter the era.
From the lush Cuban home where Hemingway writes, to the wide-open vistas of Idaho, and on to the offices of one of Manhattan's most prestigious law firms, Hemingway's Daughter is a tale of yearning, love, and unplanned outcomes.
Editorial Reviews have been without exception positive.
"Hemingway's Daughter could easily have passed as non-fiction had I not known Hemingway did not have a daughter. I read this book in one day because the pages kept turning themselves. It made me cry. It made me laugh. It made me cheer. I recommend this book to anyone who appreciates a story written like a piece of art.” Kristi Elizabeth for City Book Review, San Francisco.
"Thought-provoking and steeped in Hemingway's personality and a fictional daughter's challenges." Diane Donovan for MidWest Review.
"This is an amazing, beautifully written book and it's nearly impossible to tease out the actual from the fantasy. The intricate role Finn plays in her father's life will leave fans wishing she was real." Jennifer Padgett for City Book Review, Manhattan.
And at the end of it all, readers may find that while some things never change, some do.
Media attention: Endorsed by Mariel Hemingway and the novel is her first book club selection.
Contact information
Name: Christine M. Whitehead
Email: chris@whiteheadlegal.com
Phone: 860-402-6346
Website: www.christinewhitehead.com
Blog: www.theblogalsorises.com
