The House on Hummingbird Island

by Sam Angus

'We're going to a fine place,' Idie told Homer to console him, 'with gullies and monkeys and hummingbirds.'

Idie Grace is twelve when she inherits a grand old house on a Caribbean island, and is sent away from grey old England to a place where hummingbirds hover and monkeys clamber from tree to tree.

As a lady of property Idie can do as she pleases, so she fills the house with exotic animals, keeps her beloved horse in the hallway, and carries a grumpy, talking cockatoo called Homer on her shoulder. But the island house holds as many secrets as it does animals, and the truth behind Idie's inheritance is the biggest secret of all . . .

Perfect for fans of Eva Ibbotson and Katherine Rundell

Genres: Middle Grade, Historical, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Childrens, Fiction

389 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2016

About the author

Sam Angus is a bestselling and award-winning author of historical adventure novels for children of nine and over. Her novels, required reading for schools across the United Kingdom, deal lightly with some of the bleakest moments of British and Colonial history. Her books include Soldier Dog, Captain, A Horse Called Hero, The House on Hummingbird Island and School for Skylarks.

Sam Angus was born in Italy, and grew up in France, and spent much of her childhood moving from home to home and country to country, but most of her early childhood was spent in Franco's Spain. She went to more than ten different schools and was the naughtiest girl in all of them. She then went on to read English at Trinity College Cambridge, where she secretly kept a dog in her college rooms. After Cambridge she went to Central St Martins to study fashion then taught A Level English Literature for many years, before becoming a full-time writer. She lives between London and Exmoor and has five children, several horses and a handsome, stubborn West Highland terrier.

Sam Angus's books have been longlisted and shortlisted several times for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. Soldier Dog was longlisted in 2013, Captain in 2015 and The House on Hummingbird Island for 2017. She has also won or been shortlisted for many local and national awards including the North East Book Award, The Sussex Coast Amazing Book Award, the East Lothian Libraries’ Lennox Author Award, the James Reckitt Children’s Book Award, the Hillingdon Book of the Year, and the Bath and Somerset Centurion Award, amongst others, the Cheshire Book Award.

Reviews

[Caspette · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that introduces teenagers (and anyone wishing to learn a little more about the history) to the West Indies in the early 1900's.

This book is not based on a historical family or actual place. But it does touch on real events and issues that the people of West Indies in the early 1900's faced.

There are some pretty heavy issues and themes that are dealt with. Issues such as racism, war, colonialism, entitlement (class structure), mental illness, loneliness and social issues. The author though handles them quite well and it doesn't overwhelm the story or the reader.

Idie is a fun, smart and spirited girl who prefers animals to people. She has had a rough start to life despite a privileged up bringing. She has to face some big issues and does this mostly well.

Around halfway through the book the story changed direction as it dealt with War issues. We almost don't see Idie's perspective at all other then as a letter reader to those at home for the men at war. While interesting it did seem weird that after the events that happened prior were just ignored and not really mentioned for a chunk of the book. But the author tied it all back together at the end.

It was an interesting read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is a part of the world I know little about (other then they have beautiful beaches, have a test cricket team and the cricketer Brian Lara played for them) so I am glad I read this book and learned a little more about the area. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn a little more about the area's history and the role they played on WWI.

[Rose Humphreys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am I the only person to have been confused by this book? Its cover promises a sweet, girly, young read, as does the large print. Yet, even the first part has undertones of darker themes and the latter part gets considerably darker, without ever being overtly violent. I was horrified at the idea of sending a 12 year old girl across the world in the company of incompetent adults. I enjoyed it, and it moved me and angered me as I was reminded of the unfair treatment of soldiers who were not white in WW1. However, I feel the impression it makes when you pick it up sells it short and I wouldn't really be recommending this to the 10 - 12 year range of reader it seems to be targeting. I'm going to have to talk hard in the school library to get older readers interested in such a kiddie looking book.

[Nicky Shellens · Rating 3 out of 5]

The two main problems with this book are the cover and the blurb on the back, both of which give the impression that it will be a cheerful story about life in the West Indies, suitable for 8 - 10 year olds. This is far from the truth. However, if the cover were changed and the blurb edited to mention the fact that the story involves several deaths, madness, adultery and WW1 (complete with firing squad) it is not a bad read - although a bit like the Sound of Music; a story definitely in two parts. Don't read it to your 7-year-old (as I did; by the time I had realised where it was heading, it was too late to back out) but quite appropriate for early-teens. A few too many overly-descriptive passages which don't really add much, but good for stretching the vocabulary, an effective introduction to the West Indies and the part they played in WW1, an excellent jumping-off point for discussions about colonialism and race, and some very nice touches of humour.

[Caroline Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this book. It was exactly what I was hoping for, a tale about a girl on an island with a whole collection of animals with a bit of a mystery about her heritage. But then the last third of the book became a wartime story where several main characters went off to war and wrote letters home. It was like a different novel all together!

[Kiwi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly when reading the blurb I thought it was going to be a happy light read filled with sunshine and rainbows and butterflies not
Other than that the plot was slow, anti climatic and introduced too many characters too fast which made certain bits confusing. I did not like the characterization of Idie who acted the same when she was 17 as when she was 12. If the book was not sectioned into years, I would've assumed she was 12 years old all throughout the entire book.

[Jess (Jessie’s World of Books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 HUGE stars! I am surprised on how much I loved this… even though the main character could be a bit of a pain sometimes, it only made her more endearing. (Note: although this is technically a middle grade, I wouldn’t really say it is; Idie is 19 years old by the end of the book and it also touches on darker subjects).

[Shiv · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a superb and unexpected treat. I thought it was a childrens book from the intro but its so much more than that. A stunning insight into the first world war from a viewpoint of the west indies. Not without its tragedies and sadness in the novel but I actually loved it!

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, as the saying goes, what comes up must come down. After a solid run of consistently brilliant reads (easily worth 5 stars in my opinion), it only made sense that I'd eventually come across a books which was just...ok. Not awful, not great, just...eh.

Part of my frustration with this book comes from that fact that it had great potential. I was ready to be absorbed in the world of Hummingbird Island, but everything from the tone to the sense of atmosphere to the characters were surprisingly flat and barely even struck an emotional connection with me at all. I've honestly not read a book quite like that in a very long time.

The characterisation in particularly wasn't very strong in this book. With the exception of Idie, Austin and Carlisle Quarterly, I kept forgetting who all the other characters were, how old they were supposed to be and how they were each connected with the other characters. For example, at one point around the last third of the book, Austin's mother comes to visit Idie accompanied by someone called Daisy. I sat there thinking 'who the hell is Daisy? The book's implying that I should know who she is!' It took me forever to realise that Daisy was actually a horse who was mentioned fleetingly a couple of hundred pages before.

But as I mentioned before, the real tragedy of 'The House on Hummingbird Island' is that it had so much potential but, in my opinion, the whole book was told from the perspective of the wrong character. Rather than seeing the world through Idie Grace's eyes, we should have been following Austin or even Sampson. We all know about the tragedy of the Somme or Ypres during WW1, but I imagine that far fewer people would know about the plight of the black troops of the BWIR. Those guys were essentially fighting a war on two fronts - one against the Germans and one against the racially-motivated injustices which they suffered at the hands of their supposed 'allies.' At the back of the book, Angus even goes into detail about how much the BWIR suffered and how they were denied decent wages or weapons or social interaction, but the book almost felt like it wasn't even about the BWIR - it was about Idie.

I also hated that Benedict Grace turned out to be nothing more than a crappy second-rate villain. I was already annoyed at being expected to care about Myles' demise when we didn't even know him as a character, but Benedict's character arc was even worse. Idie frequently fumes at the injustice which the people of the West Indies are facing and yet when Benedict comes along making blatantly racist comments and holding the people of the island in poor regard, she says and does nothing! Instead she just flirts and lets him give her diamonds and takes her dancing and whatever. It felt very out of character for Idie and I'm convinced that Angus only wrote that Idie liked him so that we can have our 'twist' betrayal when it turns out that Benedict gave the order for Sampson to be shot by firing squad. And when she finally discovers this and calls him out on it, he's all like 'mwa-ha-ha, I regret nothing. By the way, your mother was crazy. Now excuse me whilst I maniacally twiddle my moustache.'

Furthermore, I felt that a lot of the conflicts and misunderstandings in the plot could have easily been resolved, had Idie just asked a few more questions, or at least, been more proactive in seeking answers. She was at that house for seven goddamn years and only at the very of the book did she discover that her mother was not mad, just ill with a fever. There's even one scene where she's talking to Gladstone or Nelson or somebody (I got them all confused, to be honest) and says 'tell me about Carlisle's mother' and they do. I was like 'great, they're finally sharing information with her! I bet now she's going to ask all sorts of questions about her family and the history of the house and...' but then she buggers off and doesn't press them for any further answers. Very frustrating from a reader's perspective. I kind of tried to excuse this by thinking that Idie was a child of her time and it was probably considered un-ladylike to ask too many questions or something, but number one, the book established that she didn't care about societal expectations and number two, the staff appeared willing to finally answer her questions!

I can't say that this book was terrible but there were so many things about it which rubbed me the wrong way. I wouldn't recommend it. Even if you're just interested in the BWIR, Angus helpfully provides a list of books in the Afterword which deal with this subject, so I'd just point people in that direction instead. I doubt I'll read another Sam Angus book in the future.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two and a half stars for yet another novel with a seam down the middle, a poorly sewn and ragged seam joining two completely different stories using the same characters.
I loved the first half. It would have been better if Angus had simply continued to explore the secrets, lies and whispers of Idie's past, the evil Carlisle's machinations and her interaction with the islanders. But noooo, she must needs drag WW1 into it, to allow the author to soapbox. Without the two world wars a huge number of British novelists would have nothing to say, no hooks to hang their narratives on. I noticed this as far back as the late 70s and things have not improved. Because nothing else has ever happened in all the decades, right?
So it would seem. But even Idie's supposed work at the hospital is a nonstarter; we never see what she does there beyond leading a couple of patients back to their lawn chairs. And I don't know who is running the plantation, but it certainly isn't the "mistress."
Add to that the misused modern language in the mouths of people in 1910-1919, and it's a mess.
By the end I was glad it was over. Oh, she tries to pretty it all up and make it okay and tie a great big sparkly bow on it, but by the end it doesn't work because she put her grubby little soapbox fingers all over what could have been a good thriller, making it a tiresome mishmash.

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was younger and I think a lot of the topics went over my head, but re-reading it, I understood more of the struggles and the sensitive topics and I think it adds to the book and made my connection with the characters stronger. I believe I’m around the age of the target audience and it covers topics like the war and racism in a way that you can understand but it doesn’t overcome the plot.

I think it probably best for 11+ as some of the topics are quit dark, including dealing with past trauma and grief. I think that the blurb and cover are slightly misleading as it appears quit a happy positive book but near the end it really isn’t.

I loved reading the letters because I could understand the characters better and they almost always bought a smile to my face, (especially Austin’s letters). It’s definitely a book that you can read in a day, the fonts quite big and it’s a book that had me hooked since I first picked it up.

I loved this book and it’s one of my favourites that I can enjoy re-reading and every time I can feel the emotions of Idie and can imagine how hard it is to deal with everything that has happened to her. 5/5 :)

[leah:) · Rating 4 out of 5]

as a 12 year old i wanted this book so badly ((the cover is actually so beautiful. who wouldnt want it ... ? also the title is quite enticing))) but when i read it i think it entirely went over my head.

this book is dark. it holds so much darkness. but it also holds so much joy. and the two are so closely stacked together in 400 or so pages that it is difficult to know how you feel after reading it. the best way to describe it is "different."

the way i see it is that this book should 100% be on most teens lists to read about the time period of ww1. although the setting is fictional, the letters in this book are so heartbreakingly truthful that you can imagine it being real. idie is an absolutely wonderful main character to read and her struggle with her past is really realistic. it is also insanely sad. but in between these identity crises of hers we get to see how even a person struggling so immensely can experience joy in small bursts.

this book is a jewel.

[Emilie]

I struggled to reconcile the way the author dealt with the legacy of colonialism in the Caribbean, which was really the whole frame for this book. In the context of the war, and its consequences, the writing was clear-eyed and damning. But in terms of the house (plantation, actually - never once mentioning what cruelty plantations entailed) and the people who worked in it, it was left completely unexamined. If it had been examined, I suppose the villain's origin story would have fallen apart at first light, because it's so abundantly clear he has been subjected to a great injustice, and that is never really addressed. The main thread of this story is sweet and sad, especially in its engagement with world war 1, but there's this whole complicated context around that which leaves me feeling like there was a lot unsaid and unseen which should have been said and seen.

[Em's Adventures · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for me. I was initially drawn to this book because of the animals, but sadly they didn't really feel present in the story, more like side characters. To be honest I wasn't entirely sure that I understood the point of this book-a good story doesn't need a point, and an informative novel does, but this book seemed to hover meanderingly in between the two with the picture of a lonely little girl on an island and a historical account of world war 1.
I found most of the characters to be either annoying or confusing and their speech was painful to read. The author doesn't wrap up the plot until the last few pages so you are left hanging in a very unsatisfactory way right up to the end. For me there was no suspense, just an irritating "get on with it" wait for the conclusion.

[JennLynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this book (perhaps the fact I was reading it on vacation in Cuba and actually experiencing some Caribbean ambiance firsthand might have helped a little!) It was a wonderful coming of age story of a young girl transplanted to a Caribbean island as mistress of an estate who has to basically construct her life, her values, herself. As she ages the background becomes that of the First World War - and in particular how appallingly conscripts from British colonies were treated, something I hadn't really been aware of. A bit predictable at times, it was nevertheless a marvellous read - one of the highlights of my reading year (and my vacation!).

[Linli · Rating 4 out of 5]

a book with interesting discussion points to do with a tween/teen. I learnt about the West Indies component of the allies that I didn't know about before. I do agree with previous comments that this seems to be a book with 2 halves- because I saw this in comments, I didn't find it as jarring as I might've.

[Melody Schofield · Rating 4 out of 5]

title: makes me feel happy
Writing: nice and simple and enjoyable to read
Plot: intriguing and slightly confusing + actually quite educational about war

This line 😭 (note this is not a romance book at all) ‘it is written in fire, idie grace, between the stars, across the moon and all along a rainbow, that I LOVE YOU’

[Rachel Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was amazingly touching, real, well written and such a good read. Idie Grace is characterized so well that you do believe that she is an actual girl, and hummingbird island was so magical and crazy to read about, it was truly amazing. 5 stars, all the way.

[Weasel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read and interesting little glimpses into aspects of the period.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

PopSugar Challenge - A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing style really grated with me for some reason. Some likeable characters but I really had to persevere to finish it!

[Caitlin Pallett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical background makes this very good, plausible and enjoyable. Written from a good point of view and little bits of humour come from the child's viewpoint.

[Audreydh1111 · Rating 2 out of 5]

i hated it for 3/4. too many adjectives, not much plot. it was slightly redeemed by a bit of war and romance at the very end.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very odd book. It took me a while to get to grips with what was actually going on. I can't say I really enjoyed it.

[Teiera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book!! The first time I read it I cried bc it was just so amazing… it’s a really easy book to read since the chapters are only a few pages long but I will always recommend this book :))

[Kenmore SHS · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot going on in this novel and it could appeal to a wide variety of readers. There's an exotic location, lots of interesting animals, family mysteries, friendship, a historical context and romance.

[Lydia Bales · Rating 4 out of 5]

The House on Hummingbird Island, Bathsheba is reminiscent of Daphne Du Maurier’s Manderley, full of mysteries waiting to be discovered.

Idie Grace is suddenly removed from the life that she has always known and plunged into a whole new world due to an unexpected inheritance. She must become the lady of the house and learn to navigate as a young girl in an adult’s world. Away from governesses and father figures for the first time Idie can now dictate her own life and surrounds herself with a menagerie of animals, turning Bathsheba into her own paradise. However, there is more to her heritage then she has been told and she must deal with the consequences of uncovering the truth.

Full review at Thoughts of a Librarian

* I received this book as an ARC copy for a job interview process. All opinions are my own*

[MacBudgie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this was a lovely, sweet little book. It was not incredibly profound, or anything like that, but it was also beutiful in its simplicity.
The first part of the book could remind you of many other children's stories. It's about a little girl who fills her house with animals. But even that part is about more than that; it's about her trying to find out about what happened to her mother, and why she was sent to this house on the beautiful Hummingbird Island (I want to live here now. It sounds amazing).
But as the book wears on, Idie, the main character, grows up, and it becomes more than that. It's about many things in fact: war, loss and grief, but also about racism, with historical connections to the time period the book was written in.
Although I thought this little book may not be as profound or in-depth as other books, I thought it was worth reading.

[Ashna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've probably read this at least 3 times, and it never ceases to amaze me. You would first think that, when reading this, it's merely a kid's book, but there's so much more to it than that; you can't reduce a book down to what its demographic is, because you'll miss the hidden gems (like this one). Maybe it's the first hundred pages that make people think it's the book aimed for kids, and rightfully so. But despite the language being simple and a bit childish at times, there's so denying its beauty. Inheritance, lies and racism, this book has it all.
I think what's really a shame is that this book doesn't get the recognition it truly does deserve. If only more people knew about this :(

[Gillie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good! I was surprised that it was so much of a life story, though, because I got the impression that it would be more of an adventure story, but it was so good it didn't even matter that much. I also did not think it would go on for so long. I had no idea she would turn 19 in this! I was a little grossed out that Benjamin proposed to her - he was her cousin! - but I was glad she refused and decided to marry Austin instead. I also really loved all the animals in her house, especially Homer.

[Ebba · Rating 4 out of 5]

When 12 year old Idie Grace returns to the Caribbean island she left as a baby, she must uncover the mystery of where she comes from and who she is. Against a lush setting and a backdrop of WW1, this novel conjures up shades of Dr Dolittle, a smidgen of Wide Sargasso Sea, a dash of Michael Morpurgo, and a hint of Jane Austen.
Best bits: the descriptions of setting, the animals and the satisfactory love story.