Here is the Beehive
Shortlisted for Popular Fiction Book of the Year in the AN Post Irish Book Awards
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3.6 • 7 Ratings
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARD
What would you do if you lost someone the world never knew was yours?
For three years, Ana has been consumed by an affair with Connor, a client at her law firm. Their love has been consigned to hotel rooms and dark corners of pubs, their relationship kept hidden from the world. So the morning that Ana's company receives a call to say that Connor is dead, her secret grief has nowhere to go. Desperate for an outlet, Ana seeks out the shadowy figure who has always stood just beyond her reach - Connor's wife Rebecca…
'Utterly gripping' RODDY DOYLE
'A triumph – crackling with psychological and sexual ambiguity' JULIE MYERSON, OBSERVER
'This book is just sublime… I loved every page' CAITRIONA BALFE
'Unmissable ... Incredible' STYLIST
'Amazing ... I read it in one sitting, completely swept up in Ana's fragmented narrative' EMMA HEALEY
'Dark, riveting, powerful' ELIZABETH DAY
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Sarah Crossan is one of our favourite YA authors and this foray into adult fiction is a beautifully written exploration of lies, grief and emotionally charged decisions. Ana is a solicitor whose affair with a married man, Connor, ends when he is killed in a cycling accident. Ana has to keep their relationship secret, with no outlet for her heartache. Seeking to understand more about Connor, and recognising someone who shares her pain, she is dangerously drawn Connor’s wife. Written in verse, this is a captivating story built around not-always-likeable but unflinchingly authentic characters. Some clever twists and surprises had us reading through the night.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Irish writer Crossan's beautifully written first adult novel (after the YA book Being Toffee), a married London lawyer and mother of two has an affair with her client, Connor Mooney, a married father of three. Ana finds her husband, Paul, to be "homely" and "compassionate," and feels unsatisfied in their marriage, which mostly consists of communicating by "grunts and nods." Ana and Connor meet up in hotel rooms when they can, but Ana wants more from the relationship; while she is willing to give up her family for Connor, he's hesitant to leave his wife. The three-year affair ends with Connor's death, the cause of which is initially kept from the reader. Ana hears the news from the unsuspecting Rebecca, who calls to inform Ana in her capacity as the lawyer of Connor's estate. Ana is devastated and unable to mourn her lover openly, and is left with nothing but a password-protected photograph of him on her computer. Then she secretly changes Connor's will and declares herself the executor, "so I could know your life and befriend your wife and keep you for a while." The book, structured in five parts, explores Ana's grief, guilt, and loss in stunning, spare lyrical prose, which appears like verse on the page as dialogue breaks into snippets of Ana's consciousness. Told from the point of view of a highly flawed Ana, this mesmerizing story will have readers hooked.
