Jamaican immigrant Hubert rediscovers the world he had turned his back on, in this “warm, funny” novel (Good Housekeeping).
In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Birdpaints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship, and fulfillment. But it’s a lie. In reality, Hubert’s days are all the same, dragging on without him seeing a single soul.
Then he receives some good news, good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on. The news that his daughter is coming for a visit.
Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out. Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship, and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all.
Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows, will he ever get to live the life that he pretended to have for so long?
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“Narrator Ben Onwukwe brings out the humor and pathos in this story…With his deep, gravelly voice, Onwukwe communicates the whole of Hubert’s complicated self—unexpectedly tender and painfully grief-stricken, but with a rascally sense of humor and a gentlemanly spirit.”
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