The Bees

by Laline Paull

Shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2015

Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize for New Fiction 2015

Enter a whole new world, in this thrilling debut novel set entirely within a beehive.

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.

Yet Flora has talents that are not typical of her kin. And while mutant bees are usually instantly destroyed, Flora is reassigned to feed the newborns, before becoming a forager, collecting pollen on the wing. Then she finds her way into the Queen's inner sanctum, where she discovers secrets both sublime and ominous.

Enemies roam everywhere, from the fearsome fertility police to the high priestesses who jealously guard the Hive Mind. But Flora cannot help but break the most sacred law of all, and her instinct to serve is overshadowed by a desire, as overwhelming as it is forbidden...

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 changes her destiny and her world.

• ISBN10: 0062331167
• ISBN13: 9780062331168
• Publish Date: 6 May 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[inlibrisveritas]

The Bees takes a concept we are all very familiar with and brings it to an unexpected place. This isn’t just a dystopian world, it’s a beehive and our main character is a worker who finds her way into every element of the hive’s day to day. In something reminiscent to Animal Farm, we get anecdotal look at religion with a little of the “save the bees” tossed in.

It’s no secret that the dystopian market is somewhat saturated, over saturated in some tropes, so it’s always nice to find that one book that stands out. The Bees stands out without really having to try…I mean it is about bees. We get to see the inner workings of a hive (totally fictional in most aspects) and see some interesting parallels drawn to real world class systems, religious zealotry, and being different. It’s also rare that a summary actually knows what it’s talking about, it actually is fairly suspenseful and incredibly imaginative. Suddenly the world of insects seems a bit more alive, and less…annoying. I loved that it made use of the act that our bee populations are taking a hit from both mysterious illnesses and pesticides, and showed the turmoil that the sickness causes within the hive.

Flora 717 is a worker bee, who is born different. She’s larger, bulkier, and has the ability to speak…something somewhat unheard of for a bee of such low standing. Right away she begins her life as an exception to the rule and soon finds herself not only on sanitation duty but attending to larva, pacifying the drones, and talking wing outside the hive. She’s brave, somewhat bold, and eager to learn far more than she’s supposed to. I wouldn’t necessarily call her a character I could relate to…she is a bee after-all, but I definitely liked her. She has a thirst for knowledge that isn’t welcome in the hive, but she desperately wants the hive to survive and be successful. She’s not out to upset the status quo, it just sort of starting getting all messed up on its own. I also really liked the way each class of worker was different and held a common name. There are Flora, Sage, Thistle, and other various flowers…all of which denote their place in their society. They don’t have names but instead have numbers, and personalities are only for the drones…who if we’re being honest are basically driven by the need to find a mate.

I did have two issues. One, the word choices. I don’t see the word ‘engine’ and thing of any living thing, let alone a bee. The other has to do with how much of a departure from reality there was. I of course expected it to be different reality seeing as we have bees living in a dystopian world with staircases and such…but I did expect to have some real inner workings happening. Flora is technically the only bee in the hive doing what real bees do…working all portions. But even with these two, rather small caveats, it was still a great read!

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first received a copy of The Bees. A story told from the point of view of a bee? It sounded like it could be really wonderful and unique, or really fall flat. Luckily, this was definitely the former. The Bees follows Flora, a sanitation worker bee from the lowest kin within the Hive. The Hive is separated into kins, each named after plants and flowers such as Sage, Lily, Thistle etc, and each with ‘typical’ duties, for example the Sages being priestess type figures. Floras are normally mute and unable to fly, but Flora defies all expectations of her kin and proves herself capable of any job that the Hive can throw at her. The story follows Flora as she tries to work out her purpose in this very strict society.

Whilst it might sound like a very strange concept, Laline Paull has taken a really wonderful step in creating this story. I think we need more books told from the point of view of unusual and unexpected protagonists. I found myself entranced by her writing, not only her style but also the way in which she told Flora’s story. It might seem odd to read about bees doing things we expect from humans, such as dancing, but in this case Paull makes it fit in. The bees ‘dance’ in order to communicate with fellow gatherers the paths that they should take to collect nectar and remain safe. Even though this is not dancing as we know it, I completely understood what Paull meant. It was so, so vivid, I could easily imagine the hive and everything within it. The structure of the Hive was quite terrifying: almost a dystopian ‘Big Brother’ society where everyone has to stick to their assigned duties, and anyone who breaks rules or has no purpose is killed.

What I loved most about the book was how alive everything felt. Plants, flowers, bees and other insects – Paull’s writing brought so much life to all of them. If you’re a little unsure of this title because of the strange topic, I would definitely say don’t hesitate and give it a try. It’ll certainly make you think about how important bees are within our ecosystem and what really goes on in the hive.

[sarahjay]

The narration for this in audiobook format is so lovely. Orlagh Cassidy is a gem. It was mesmerizing and fascinating and (according to my admittedly VERY brief google search) pretty scientifically accurate! Except for the part where bees speak English and have a religion, I assume. Bees terrified me as a kid (ok also as an adult) but this made me really care about them. They're just trying to be bees, do their bee thing, you know?