Absolutely brilliant book. Straight to top of the list for my Book of the Year. Engaging, surprising, compelling, thought-provoking...the list to describe how good it is could be very, very long.

This is a story about four women: Peggy (1933), Hilda (2020), La (2031), Maz (2181). Covering multiple centuries, points of view, generations and genres. Historical fiction, contemporary fiction and speculative fiction all in one.

This would make a fabulous book club pick as there is so much to discuss about the characters, the times they are living in, progression and all that comes with it.

4.5 stars from me!

Such an engrossing read! There is a lot going on in this latest novel from Australian writer, Kate Mildenhall. It's a story about four women, Peggy (1933), Hilda (2020), La (2031) and Maz (2181), each with their own story, but common themes about women's roles, industrial change and action, the environment and the kinship of women and across the ages they are all connected.

I found the story a little confusing to start with but once I stopped trying to work out the connections and just went with it, I really enjoyed this book. It is thought provoking, poignant and clever. This really made me think about how actions and decisions not only have consequences for individuals at the time but changes the course of the future for others and us it possible to 'unmake' and begin again.

This is a fascinating read.

4.5⭐️

Thank you to @netgalley and @simonandschuster for the ebook in return for an honest review. I will be buying a copy of this to read again!

The Hummingbird Effect is an exquisite exploration of historical, contemporary, and speculative fiction.

I’ve read all of Kate Mildenhall’s books and while I think Skylarking is still my favourite, this one is right up there with it.

Melbourne has changed so much over the last 100 years and will see more change over the next century. While we can study, learn and understand the events of the past. Only future generations will bear witness as to what comes next. Perhaps there will be an environmental catastrophe that decimates human and animal populations. Perhaps humans will get their collective shit together and work to prevent our own extinction. Only time will tell.

Each era was compelling, wonderfully written, and the changing of the prose to fit the time period was so masterfully done. Throughout these four strong, interconnected voices, it was easy to relate to the characters and their way of life, no matter how far back or forwards it may have been. And I could have easily spent a whole book with any one of them.

However, it was the 2020 chapters that I resonated with the most. Not just because they’re the most recent. But because I, like the author, am a Melbournian. Reading these sections brought up so much of the fear and anxiety of that year, and the continuation of those feelings in 2021. The in and out of lockdowns, the restrictions, the protections, the uncertainty of it all. Add in the endless news cycles - both traditional and social media, the daily press conferences, and obsessions with cases numbers and exposure sites and deaths. I even heard all those passages in the Premier’s voice.
And no one outside of metropolitan Melbourne could possibly understand what it felt like to live through all of that for two years. That it came from the perspective of someone locked inside an aged care home was heartbreaking.

I loved the AI sections and the eventuality of that storyline. It’s not a new concept, hello SkyNet and Cyclons and 42, but it is very topical right now.
And I especially loved the little bit of Greek in it. After all, the City of Melbourne has the largest population of Greek people outside of Greece. And it made my little Greek Australian heart sing to read those parts, and about the food.

All in all, this latest offering of Mildenhall’s is sure to hit many marks (and feels) with readers and I thank Kate Mildenhall, Simon & Schuster (Australia) and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this excellent novel.

Loved it! Four separate storylines: Footscray 1933, set in an abattoir as mechanisation is being introduced; an aged care home in 2020 and the pandemic; near future 2031 mostly set in the WANT warehouse (much like Amazon); and far future 2181 post climate disaster and new coastlines. Each storyline is hard to look away from particularly the endings of the 1933 and the 2020 stories. The pandemic story is particularly affecting considered what happened to the elderly in aged care homes. In between each storyline is Hummingbird, an AI being asked about humanity and where it went wrong. The connections between the stories isn’t revealed till much later but the writing and characters are so strong, I was really drawn into the stories and loved the conclusion. A compelling and impressive read.

'Listen, shhhh, for what we know is back and it is forward, memory and dream'.

I opened this book and I was befuddled. I was dumbfounded; trying to understand a story that was told through four seemingly disparate storylines, across four different timelines. I persisted. How could this possibly evolve and resolve? I'm so glad I did. At the core of this story are some profound points to ponder and apply to our lives.

We follow Peggy who works at the meatworks in 1933 and it’s proposed the introduction of machines will streamline production; alternate to Hilda who resides in an old age home in 2020 and has just been put into lockdown; flick on to 2031, and La who is forced to pick up a factory job run predominantly by robots that might just be secretly trying to harvest your data, and lastly, in 2181 we learn about Maz who lives in a dystopia of environmental extremes. Each story is affected by the evolution of progress; steamrolling into the speculative possibilities of AI, 'The machine got too smart. It decided that the worst mistake was us.'

A hummingbird effect is rippling changes instigated by a new invention or idea; how it inadvertently morphs future applications and opportunities - often in unimaginable ways. 'Waiting, patient, patient to see what you all think of next'. However, while people may drive change, and stop at nothing to achieve change, the elements of life remain the same and hold infinite wisdom. Just like the river that flows past each of these four characters' lives.

This is a unique book that delves into a number of genres. It is as strange as it is compelling. It is historical fiction and it is speculative fiction. The only way to define it is: provocative.