Translated from the Italian by Elena Pala
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 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 everyday existence.
A thrilling novel about the need to look to the future with hope and live with intensity to the very end.
Sandro Veronesi is the author of nine novels including Quiet Chaos (2005), which was translated into twenty languages and won the Strega Prize, the Prix Fémina and the Prix Méditerranée. The Hummingbird, was voted best book of the year by the Corriere della Sera (Italy’s most widely read newspaper) and won the Premio Strega.
Elena Pala travelled widely and then did a PhD in linguistics at Cambridge University and afterwards spent time at a busy creative agency in London, eventually finding her calling in literary translation. The Hummingbird is her first full-length translation of a novel.
“This novel is a moving life story of the ophthalmologist Marco Carrera, alias “The Hummingbird”. Marco owes the nickname to his short physique due to a growth disorder. He grows up in a dysfunctional family, suffers a traumatic loss, has a gambling addiction and he betrays his best friend. His great love is Luisa Lattes, but he marries the wrong woman Mariana. After the death of his daughter, Marco has to take care of his two-year-old granddaughter Miraijin.
The Hummingbird is a gripping, humorous and intelligent novel. Veronesi is masterful in the ingenious, whirling composition: no chronological narrative but acrobatic time jumps, letters, e-mails, text messages, poetry, thoughts and reflections. All this in a superior language and style. As a reader, it is exciting to collect the thousand pieces of Marco’s life and eventually to discover a coherent, rich and beautiful story. Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge (Bruges Public Library), Belgium
| Author | Sandro Veronesi |
|---|---|
| Nominating Library | Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge (Bruges Public Library), Belgium |
| Publisher | Weidenfeld & Nicolson Orion Publishing |
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