Telling the Bees

Albert Honig's most constant companions have always been his bees. A never-married octogenarian, he makes a modest living as a beekeeper, as his father and his father's father did before him. Deeply acquainted with the workings of his hives, Albert is less versed in the ways of people, especially his neighbour Claire, whose beauty and vivaciousness transformed his young life. Yet years passed by, feelings were repressed, and chances missed.

Until one day Albert, led by a trail of bees, discovers Claire's body. Through the quiet minutiae of life, he begins to examine the truths that lay hidden under the secrets and silence that hovered between them for so long. With echoes of The Remains of the Day, Telling the Bees is a haunting novel about lies of omission and commission, the persistence of regret, and the sweet anguish of re-opening wounds in order to finally heal them.

About the author

Peggy Hesketh is a journalist and author, and currently teaches writing and rhetoric at the University of California. Her short story 'A Madness of Two' was selected by Elizabeth George for inclusion in her anthology Two of the Deadliest.

Summary

Albert Honig is haunted by the murder and loss of one woman – his friend and neighbour since childhood – whose presence and long absence in his life have never been reconciled.

Report

'What a wonderful novel! The voice is so masterfully done, the mysteries of life and death so compellingly evoked.'
Karen Joy Fowler, author of We are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Product details

• Authors: Peggy Hesketh, Hesketh Peggy
• Publisher: Oneworld
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 04.06.2015
• EAN: 9781780748016
• ISBN: 978-1-78074-801-6
• No. of pages: 320
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; USA, FICTION / General, FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Crime & mystery, FICTION / Family Life / General, NATURE / Animals / Insects & Spiders, Contemporary lifestyle fiction, United States of America, USA, Crime and mystery fiction, Apiculture (Beekeeping), Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary