The Hummingbird

Pre-order Sandro Veronesi's unforgettable new novel Black September, coming in August 2026
A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE GUARDIAN: 'DEEPLY PLEASURABLE'
A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE SPECTATOR: 'WHAT A JOY'

'Magnificent' Guardian
'A towering achivement' Financial Times
'Inventive, bold, unexpected' Sunday Times

'Everything that makes the novel worthwhile and engaging is here: warmth, wit, intelligence, love, death, high seriousness, low comedy, philosophy, subtle personal relationships and the complex interior life of human beings'
Guardian

'Not since William Boyd's Any Human Heart has a novel captured the feast and famine nature of 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

'Instantly immersive, playfully inventive, effortlessly wise'
Observer

'Masterly: a cabinet of curiosities and delights, packed with small wonders'
Ian McEwan

'A real masterpiece. A funny, touching, profound book that made me cry like a little girl on the last page'
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 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.

THE NO. 1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Over 300,000 copies sold
Soon to be a major motion picture
Winner of the Premio Strega
Winner of the Prix du Livre Etranger
Book of the Year for the Corriere della Sera