The Hummingbird: ‘Magnificent’ (Guardian)
About this audiobook
'A TOWERING ACHIEVEMENT' FINANCIAL TIMES
'INVENTIVE, BOLD, UNEXPECTED' THE SUNDAY TIMES
'Everything that makes the novel worthwhile and engaging is here'
Guardian
'Not since William Boyd's Any Human Heart has a novel captured a single life with such invention and tenderness'
Financial Times
'There is a pleasing sense of having grappled with the real stuff of life: loss, grief, love, desire, pain, uncertainty, confusion, joy, despair - all while having fun'
The Sunday Times
'Masterly'
Ian McEwan
'A real masterpiece'
Leïla Slimani
'A remarkable accomplishment, a true gift to the world'
Michael Cunningham
'Ardent, gripping, and inventive to the core'
Jhumpa Lahiri
Marco Carrera is 'the hummingbird,' 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; raising his granddaughter; coming to terms with his love for the enigmatic Luisa - Marco Carrera comes to represent the quiet heroism that pervades so much of our everyday existence.
A surprising and deeply moving reinvention of the family saga, this is a thrilling novel about the need to look to the future with hope and live with intensity to the very end.
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Sandro Veronesi was born in Florence in 1959. He is the author of nine novels including Quiet Chaos (2005), which was translated into twenty languages and won the Premio Strega, the Prix Fémina and the Prix Méditerranée. His latest novel, The Hummingbird, was an instant bestseller in Italy, was voted best book of the year by the Corriere della Sera (Italy's most widely read newspaper) and won the Premio Strega. Sandro is only the second author in the Premio Strega's history to win the prize twice.
Elena Pala translates from Italian and French. Following a stint as a tour guide at the Eiffel Tower, a PhD in Linguistics at Cambridge University, four years at a London advertising agency, and a year backpacking in South America, she finally found her calling as a literary translator. Recent translations include The Hummingbird by Sandro Veronesi (W&N), Down and Out in England and Italy by Alberto Prunetti (Scribe) and Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop by Alba Donati (W&N). Forthcoming titles include The Wicked One (title tbd) by Beatrice Salvioni, which will be published by HarperVia.
