Hemingway's Havana

In Cuba, Ernest Hemingway, author of The Old Man and the Sea, The Sun Also Rises, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, found a sense of serenity and enrichment he couldn’t find anywhere else. Here through more than a hundred color photographs and accompanying text, is a look at the Cuba he loved.

Photographer Robert Wheeler takes us through the streets and near the water’s edge of Havana, and closer to the relationship Hemingway shared with the Cuban people, their landscape, their politics, and their culture.

Papa Hemingway lived in Cuba for more than two decades, longer than anywhere else. He bought a home—naming it the Finca Vigia—with his third wife, Martha Gellhorn and wrote his masterpiece The Old Man and the Sea there.

Wheeler has followed Hemingway’s path across continents—from La Closerie des Lilas Café in Paris to Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Key West to El Floridita in Havana—seeking to capture through photography and the written word the essence of one of the greatest writers in the English language. In Hemingway’s Havana, he reveals the beauty and the allure of Cuba, an island nation whose deep connection with the sea came to fascinate and inspire the writer.

The book includes a foreword by América Fuentes who is the granddaughter of the late Gregorio Fuentes, the captain of Hemingway’s boat Pilar and his loyal and close friend.

Robert Wheeler is a teacher, writer, photographer, husband, and father. He has been a Hemingway enthusiast ever since reading his first Hemingway novel in 1986. For the past ten years, he has been a professor at Southern New Hampshire University where he teaches courses in writing and on Hemingway. He lives by the sea in New Castle, New Hampshire with his wife, Meme, and his daughters, Emma and Helen.

"Hemingway's Havana . . . captures the essence of Ernest Hemingway’s time in Cuba through beautiful and vibrant photographs and prose. It tells the story of why Hemingway felt most at home in Cuba, and illustrates the beauty of the people and the island-setting that most inspired him."—WJCT

"Wheeler’s new book captures all of Havana’s beauty the way Hemingway would have wanted his readers to view it: through the sea, the land, and his work."—Idaho Statesman

"If you’re a fan of Ernest Hemingway, if you’re curious about the Cuba of today as well as the last century, or even if you just enjoy photography, Hemingway’s Havana will appeal to you. It would also make a great gift for any Hemingway aficionado.."—The Classy Chics

"I never lost my sense of adventure so when the hardbound copy of Hemingway’s Havana arrived I turned the pages carefully, reading the text on one page, immersing in the photo parallel color beauty."—Jetsettter magazine

"A perfect coffee table book . . . The photographic presentation alone is enough to make this book worthy of any coffee table. But the magic only begins when you dive into the narrative.""—Bellingham Herald

"From the foreword by América Fuentes, the granddaughter of the late Gregorio Fuentes, Hemingway’s friend and the captain of his boat Pilar, the reader will be captivated by Robert Wheeler’s vision of Cuba as Hemingway lived and breathed it."—Muse literary blog

"Mr. Wheeler’s unique vision lies in taking us with him and guiding our attention towards the hidden details and locales that Hemingway saw and experienced and in doing so, bringing a greater understanding as to why this land of contrasts was Hemingway’s chosen home for so long.”—georgiannalane.com

"A wonderful, colourful and warm tribute."—Blue Wolf Reviews

"The expressive photographs throughout the book are gorgeous and very telling."—Underrated Reads

"Roberto’s words and images of my homeland are eloquently and beautifully balanced and exist in harmony like the ocean and the sky. His images and words are fused with the same magic, elusiveness and beauty of the island of Cuba and its people."—Raul Villarreal, author of Hemingway's Cuban Sun

"Robert Wheeler's words and photographs have given an honest and clear picture of the Hemingway that my grandfather loved, and of the Hemingway that we Cubans—especially the fishermen from Cojimar, who want his memory to remain alive—still hold dear."—from the foreword by América Fuentes, granddaughter of Gregorio Fuentes, captain of Hemingway's boat, Pilar

Praise for Hemingway's Paris:

"Achingly effective." —Booklist, Starred Review

"Is Hemingway's Paris ambitious? Yes. Does it work? Absolutely." —Huffington Post

"By showing us the Paris that Hemingway saw, walked through, and loved, Robert Wheeler gives us a more complete picture than we have had of this legendary and complicated American writer." —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University

"This book evokes not only the beauty of Paris but especially of Hemingway's remembrance of the early Paris years and his formation as a modernist writer. The exquisite photography and the evocative beauty of the prose bring out the very best of what Paris has to offer: past, present, and, forever, the future. Read this book and savor Hemingway's city." —James Meredith, president, the Ernest Hemingway Foundation and Society

"Wheeler's photographs of Hemingway's Paris are a gritty illustration of what Perkins saw in Hemingway's writing." —Jenny Phillips, grand-daughter of Hemingway's longtime editor, Maxwell Perkins

"In this photographic tribute to Ernest Hemingway, Robert Wheeler uses his unerring eye and masterly vision to bring us Paris, city of literature and romance, in a unique and charming way. Inspired by A Moveable Feast, the crisp black-and-white images and accompanying narrative give us an original insight into both beloved city and renowned author. A delightful experience!" —Valerie Hemingway, author of Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways

"If you're interested in Hemingway or Paris, this book is a must read." —Sun Also Rises (blog)