Title: The Music of Bees
Author: Eileen Garvin
Publisher: Headline Review
Publication date: 2021
Genre: Adult Fiction
Reviewer: Hayley Martell
The Music of Bees is Eileen Garvin’s debut novel.
I was drawn to this book because I love bees and am fascinated by them.
The author is very obviously a beekeeper herself, as she entwines bee knowledge within the story.
Alice Holtzman is a lonely, middle-aged woman who’s suddenly lost her husband to a tragic accident.
She takes solace in the company of the bees on her farm.
Our other main character, Jake, is a teenage boy confined to a wheelchair after an accident at a party.
One late afternoon Alice almost crashes her pick-up truck packed with thousands of bees into Jake.
Jake, a talented musician realises the bees hum in a particular musical note when something is changing within their hive.
He uses this knowledge to learn the ways of the bees and become a very gifted beekeeper.
Jake seems to have an understanding of the bees, and never gets stung.
Alice marvels at his prowess and the two learn just as much from each other.
Enter Harry, a young man with crippling social anxiety who believes he is happy to live a solitary life but needs to earn money.
Harry comes to the farm looking for work.
Alice, who was happy to not have any housemates suddenly becomes the pseudo-mum for the two young men.
The three of them live alongside each other, forming an alliance to save the bees, but most importantly an unlikely but wonderful friendship.
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