The Honey Bus

 

Best Book of the summer.  Bonnie Rawson recommended this book to me.  It was available while I as waiting for other books, so even tho it didn't sound too interesting, I read it.

And, I LOVED it.  Maybe it's because my neighbor, Fred Calder, used to keep bees.  Maybe it's because I have always found bees fascinating, but knew little about them.  And, this book teaches A LOT about them and the art of beekeeping.

But, it's more than that.  It's a story about a young girl whose parents get divorced.  She and her brother move with their mother from Vermont to California to live with her grandparents.  

There begins a very difficult life for Meredith over the next 12 years or so.  Her mother stays in her bedroom day after day as the divorce totally sent her into a deep depression.  Plus, I'm sure she has some very deep emotional trauma because her own father beat her - OFTEN as a child growing up.  The mother is totally incapable of showing affection or being concerned about her children.  The grandmother is a piece of work herself.

But, Meredith finds solace with her wonderful grandfather who teaches her all about keeping bees.  In the lives of the hardworking bees, Meredith finds out about life, families, survival, connection in watching teh drama unfold in the bee hives.  

This will be one of my favorite books of 2025.  

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