The Hummingbird: 'Magnificent' (Guardian)

"The Hummingbird's Gift" is a novel that explores the life of Marco Carrera, a man with the ability to stay still as the world around him changes. It is a touching, profound book that has been praised by critics and has sold over 300,000 copies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 03 March 2022
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE GUARDIAN:

Deeply pleasurable, this remarkable novel has been acclaimed as a literary masterpiece by numerous publications. The Guardian hailed it as "a towering achievement," while the Financial Times praised its "inventive, bold, and unexpected" storytelling. The Sunday Times described it as "everything that makes the novel worthwhile and engaging," encompassing warmth, wit, intelligence, love, death, high seriousness, low comedy, philosophy, subtle personal relationships, and the complex interior life of human beings. The Guardian further noted that it has not been seen since William Boyd's Any Human Heart to capture the feast and famine nature of a single life with such invention and tenderness.

The Financial Times commended the novel for its ability to grapple with the real stuff of life, including loss, grief, love, desire, pain, uncertainty, confusion, joy, despair, all while having fun. The Sunday Times described it as "instantly immersive, playfully inventive, effortlessly wise." The Observer praised it as a "cabinet of curiosities and delights, packed with small wonders," while Ian McEwan hailed it as a "real masterpiece." Leïla Slimani described it as a "remarkable accomplishment, a true gift to the world," and Michael Cunningham praised it as "ardent, gripping, and inventive to the core." Jhumpa Lahiri praised it as "the hummingbird, a man with the almost supernatural ability to stay still as the world around him continues to change."

Marco Carrera is a man with the almost supernatural ability to stay still as the world around him continues to change. As he navigates the challenges of life, confronting the death of his sister and the absence of his brother; taking care of his parents as they approach the end of their lives; raising his granddaughter when her mother, Marco's own child, can no longer be there for her; coming to terms with his love for the enigmatic Luisa, Marco Carrera comes to represent the quiet heroism that pervades so much of our lives.

Weight: 270g
Dimension: 129 x 196 x 32 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474617482