Read April 2019. Published 2nd May 2019.
Nuri and Afra live in the city of Aleppo, Syria, with their young son, Sami.
Afra is an artist, and she make a living selling her paintings in the Aleppo marketplace.
Nuri is a beekeeper and, with his cousin Mustafa, he tends to many hives in the countryside outside of Aleppo. Bees are Nuri's passion and he went against the wishes of his parents to pursue dream of life as a beekeeper.
Nuri and Mustafa have made a great success of their beekeeping venture, selling honey and cosmetics made from bee products. They are surrounded by friends and family and have no wish to ever leave their beautiful homeland.
But, war has come to Syria and Nuri and Mustafa's lives are about to change for ever. Mustafa sends his wife and daughter away, to England, for safety and plans to follow them with his son. He tries to persuade Nuri and Afra to leave too, but they cannot bear to be parted from their homeland, clinging to the hope that things will get better.
As the situation in Aleppo worsens, their beloved bee hives are burned to the ground, and Mustafa's son is found murdered. Mustafa takes revenge by killing some of the callous soldiers based in Aleppo, as he suspects they are responsible for the death of his son. He must escape, before the soldiers come for him, and he leaves a hurriedly written letter for Nuri, urging him to follow him to England.
Further tragedy strikes Nuri and Afra when their son is killed by a bomb, while playing outside their home. Afra loses her sight on this day and the last things she has seen is the body of her young son, lying in the rubble.
Nuri and Afra are heartbroken by the death of their only child, but Afra still cannot bear to leave Aleppo, despite Nuri desperately trying to make her realise that things are getting worse and worse. It is not until the soldiers threaten to kill Nuri if he does not join them in the fighting, that he and Afra finally escape Aleppo.
So begins a long and difficult journey to be reunited with Mustafa in England, via Turkey and Greece - desperation forcing them to use their life-savings to pay smugglers to transport them across borders and away from the wretched conditions they find in the refugee camps. They are both broken by the destruction of their homeland and the death of their son, and trying to cope in the best way they can. Both are isolated by their grief and the horrific things they have seen.
Will they ever be able to find each other again, and themselves, again?
The theme of bees runs throughout this book. From Nuri and Mustafa's beloved hives, to Mustafa's new venture teaching people how to keep bees in Yorkshire (which he hope Nuri will help him to make a success). The bees are a symbol of hope and you will yearn with all your heart for some of this hope to become part of Nuri and Afra's lives again.
This book is beautifully written and heartbreakingly sad. I cannot even imagine what is must be like to have your homeland destroyed by war and be forced to leave behind everything you hold dear.
This book will give you a horrific glimpse into the lives of refugees and the conditions they experience, and I defy you not to feel compassion for the situations these people find themselves in.
I have not read anything this haunting and moving since The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini. This book will stay with me for a long time.
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