Like Bees to Honey

In her third novel, acclaimed author of ‘In Search of Adam’ and ‘Black Boxes’ Caroline Smailes draws upon her own family history for a remarkable and unforgettable story of loss and redemption.

Nina travels to Malta with her five-year-old son Christopher. She left the island at the age of nineteen to study at Liverpool University but fell pregnant and was disowned by her family. Following a car accident her relationship with her husband breaks down and she feels compelled to return home, taking her young son with her in the hope of reconciliation with her father and siblings.

Once in Malta, strange things start to happen. Nina discovers that the island is full of souls in various stages of transition. Malta is the place where the dead all travel to before they pass over and she is visited by seven of them who, in turn, try to help her deal with the issues that have brought her to the island after so many years away.

As Nina travels round Malta and learns more from each friendly spirit she begins to understand why she has really come back and is forced to face some startling truths which will haunt the reader long after they put the book down.

Caroline Smailes built up a significant cult following with her first two books, with Like Bees to Honey she has written a remarkable story which will break her through to the mainstream audience she so richly deserves.

Reviews

‘Will Self and Caroline Smailes are arch-experimentalists’ OBSERVER

About the author

Caroline Smailes was born in Newcastle in 1973. In 2006 a chance remark on a daytime chat show caused Caroline to reconsider her life. She enrolled on an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and began to write In Search of Adam.

Caroline is currently an Associate Lecturer for the Open University and lives in the North West with her husband and three children.