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A novel about bees (a real buzz to this one…)

17th January 2018

The History of Bees by Maja Lunde – a novel about bees, set in England, USA and China.

An admission up front… I am a beekeeper. That said, I believe The History of Bees has wider appeal. Yes, the book is about bees, but it is also – and primarily – about three families living at very different periods in history. Their three stores are interwoven throughout the book. They are seemingly unconnected, until the closing chapters.A novel about bees

William and his family live in Hertfordshire, England. The date is 1852. William is a seed merchant and biologist, and obsessed with building a new type of wooden bee hive. His chapters describe both the relationships within his family and the trials and tribulations he suffered in his quest. They make riveting reading and offer a real insight into the period.

George is an American beekeeper living in Ohio. The year is 2007. He owns a bee farm which he is hoping to pass onto his son (who doesn’t really want to know…). In the US, the income from bees is rather more from hiring them out as pollinators than using them as honey producers. Large wagons containing literally hundreds of thousands of bees are trucked around the States from farm to farm pollinating the flowers that produce the beans and fruit. George cannot compete with the largest operators, but he has a viable business – until his apiaries are struck by CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder). His livelihood is destroyed.

Tao and her family live in Sichuan, China. The date is 2098. It is a post apocalyptic world. The bees have long since died out across the globe – destroyed by pesticides and intensive farming. The family eke out a living (as do thousands of their co-workers) pollinating fruit crops by hand. The work is both arduous and dangerous. Their young son suffers trauma one day when they are out in the local woods. They have no idea what is wrong with him, and he is rushed to the local hospital and then, eventually, onto Beijing. Much of the story concerns Tao’s trip to Beijing from the countryside to try and find him, and what has happened to him. A great deal of bureaucratic secrecy surrounds the issue. He is important to the authorities, but she doesn’t know why.

The History of Bees is a significant book. Unless we think about it, and read about it, we probably have no idea how important bees are to our way of life – and how much they are threatened by what we are doing to the environment. We have a duty to future generations.

Tony for the TripFiction team

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