Grey Bees Grey Bees

Grey Bees

A captivating, heartwarming story about a gentle beekeeper caught up in the war in Ukraine

    • 4.5 • 16 Ratings
    • £3.99

Publisher Description

Ukraine's most famous novelist dramatises the conflict raging in his country through the adventures of a mild-mannered beekeeper.

"A warm and surprisingly funny book from Ukraine's greatest living novelist" Charlie Connelly, New European Books of the Year


Little Starhorodivka, a village of three streets, lies in Ukraine's Grey Zone, the no-man's-land between loyalist and separatist forces. Thanks to the war, only two residents remain: retired safety inspector turned beekeeper Sergey Sergeyich and Pashka, his "frenemy" from his schooldays.

With little food and no electricity, under ever-present threat of bombardment, Sergeyich's one remaining pleasure is his bees. As spring approaches, he knows he must take them far from the Grey Zone so they can collect their pollen in peace.

This simple mission on their behalf introduces him to combatants and civilians on both sides of the battle lines: loyalists, separatists, Russian occupiers and Crimean Tatars. Wherever he goes, Sergeyich's childlike simplicity and strong moral compass disarm everyone he meets.

But could these qualities be manipulated to serve an unworthy cause, spelling disaster for him, his bees and his country?

Translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2020
12 November
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
352
Pages
PUBLISHER
Quercus
SIZE
1.9
MB

Customer Reviews

Mr Toast2046 ,

Wonderful

An evocative, mystical and yet down to earth journey through recent Ukrainian history - and bees.

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