Hemingway Lies and the Search for Sam

A young man struggles to find himself in the midst of tragedy in William H. Strickland's moving debut novel, "Hemingway Lies and the Search for Sam."

There is a whispered rumor that circulates throughout the small southern town implicating one of the blue-blood residents in a secret affair with a well-known writer, and branding her child, Hawken Turner, as the illegitimate son of Ernest Hemingway.

Hawken dismisses the rumors and ignores the talk until a tragic accident claims the life of the one person he cannot bare to lose. Desperate to numb the pain, he descends into a life of whiskey, women, and reckless behavior that eerily parallels that of Hemingway.

His job as a safari operator sends Hawken abroad where he indulges himself in wanton discoveries. He roams the earth with a rifle, fishing rod, and the haunting memories he cannot leave behind. As his fate continually aligns with Hemingway's own, Hawken begins to fear the answers he searches for and the perilous future that seems to lie ahead of him.