Ernie: Hemingway’s Sister “Sunny” Remembers

Among the many accounts and memoirs that have made Ernest Hemingway larger than life, this, by his younger sister, is unique. Ernie is a simple recollection of the Hemingway family life, with emphasis on moments of sharing and intimacy as seen by an adoring favorite sister. As such, this intimate memoir provides an authentic insight into Hemingway’s formative years. This is a collection of warm memories about a time and a place, and about a much-loved big brother. In Sunny’s case, there is hero worship for a very special sibling, who taught her to hunt and fish, who introduced her to John Dos Passos, Alexander Calder, and other notables, and who protected and encouraged her. Sunny writes perceptively of her mother and father, whose influence was strong on Hemingway, and of their long summer vacations at Walloon Lake in northern Michigan, which later formed the backdrop for Hemingway’s Nick Adams stories. Hemingway aficionados will be sure to find the origin of many stories in the graphic anecdotes Sunny tells. Ernie is a book all Hemingway fans and students will have to read, but beyond that, it is a rare document, approaching the great writer with a rare candor and simplicity. The photographs, many unavailable elsewhere, are chiefly drawn from family albums bequeathed to the author; they too provide a unique view of this remarkable family.