In this, James George's extraordinary second novel, three people, strangers all, are thrown together in a world of sand and ocean and sky on Northland's Ninety Mile Beach. Jordan - a tattooed man who lives alone at the base of his ancestral hill in a boat that was never launched - has his solitude broken by the arrival of two travellers: one who falls from the air, another who arrives following childhood tracks. Kingi, a distinguished Battle of Britain veteran, is journeying to keep a promise made on Crete half a century ago. Kataraina, a former prostitute, has left Sydney's Kings Cross and is finally travelling home. But their journeys and their lives change forever with the arrival of a young woman and her daughter a This novel sets global conflict against a sensuous search for love. The action sweeps across fifty years, and ranges around the globe from New Zealand to northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Hummingbird is a bittersweet exploration of freedom and confinement, parenthood and family, home and belonging.

Accolades

Shortlisted for Tasmania Pacific Rim Region Prizes: Fiction 2005.
Shortlisted for Montana Book Awards 2004.

Author Biography

James George was born in Wellington in 1962 and now lives in Auckland but describes northland - the backdrop for much of his latest novel - as his 'spiritual home'. It is also the ancestral home of his M ori forebears; James is of Ng Puhi, English and Irish descent. Hummingbird is his second novel. James has also published several short stories, of which 'Zeta Orionis', an extract from Hummingbird won the premiere award in the 2001 M ori Literature Awards judged by Keri Hulme.