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The Bees
- Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
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Publisher's Summary
The Handmaid's Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut.
Born into the lowest class of her society, Flora 717 is a sanitation bee, only fit to clean her orchard hive. Living to accept, obey and serve, she is prepared to sacrifice everything for her beloved holy mother, the Queen.
But Flora is not like other bees. Despite her ugliness she has talents that are not typical of her kin. While mutant bees are usually instantly destroyed, Flora is removed from sanitation duty and is allowed to feed the newborns, before becoming a forager, collecting pollen on the wing. She also finds her way into the Queen's inner sanctum, where she discovers secrets both sublime and ominous.
But enemies are everywhere, from the fearsome fertility police to the high priestesses who jealously guard the Hive Mind. And when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all her instinct to serve is overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce love that will lead to the unthinkable....
Laline Paull's chilling yet ultimately triumphant novel creates a luminous world both alien and uncannily familiar. Thrilling and imaginative, The Bees is the story of a heroine who, in the face of an increasingly desperate struggle for survival, changes her destiny and her world.
Critic Reviews
“ The Bees” is one wild ride. A sensual, visceral mini-epic about timeless rituals and modern environmental disaster. Paull's heart pounding novel wrenches us into a new world.” (Emma Donoghue, author of Room)
“This is a rich, strange book, utterly convincing in its portrayal of the mind-set of a bee and a hive. I finished it feeling I knew exactly how bees think and live. This is what sets us humans apart from other animals, that our imagination can allow us to create a complete, believable world so different from our own.” (Tracy Chevalier)
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- JulieW
- 01-12-2021
The Bees, extraordinary
deep, thought provoking, a guide to how we should all live and love. Brilliant
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- Anonymous User
- 01-04-2024
A book to suck you back into reading
I never imagined I’d become so invested in the characters of bees.
Both read and listened to this and at times read along with the audio, loved the book and loved the audiobook. Just a great story with characters you can’t help but fall in love with - even if they are bees! So much fun. So glad to get back into reading.
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- audiobooker
- 22-09-2015
Bees + melodrama
The premise of this book did sound pretty weird, but I have more than a passing interest in bees so thought I'd give it a go. Was sorry that I did. It was like reading teen lit. I had no idea bees were so bloody melodramatic. It didn't engage me at all and I was hanging out for the end.
Wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
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