The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri (Paperback release)

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri.

Published in paperback 20th February 2020.

Originally read April 2019 in hardback (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 finds that he must now escape too. He leaves a hurriedly written letter for Nuri, urging him to follow as soon as he can.

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 a terrible tragedy strikes them 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 and isolated by their grief and the horrific things they have seen.

Will they ever be able to find each other again, and themselves, again?

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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. 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, but so completely mesmerising that you find yourself totally immersed in Nuri and Afra's story. 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, and I sincerely hope that I will never have to find out.

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. Nuri and Afra's journey is terribly hard and some of the scenes described are particularly difficult to read.

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.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo is published on 20th Febraury 2020 in paperback, and is available in hardback, e-book and audio formats now.

Thank you to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

From the cover of the book:

*RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK *

Featured as One to Watch for in 2019 across Sunday Express, Irish Independent, Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Independent, Woman’s Way and Culturefly

“This is a novel of international significance. Courageous, provocative, haunting, it will open your eyes”

In the midst of war, he found love

In the midst of darkness, he found courage

In the midst of tragedy, he found hope

Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. 

When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain. 

On the way, Nuri is sustained by the knowledge that waiting for them is Mustafa, his cousin and business partner, who has started an apiary and is teaching fellow refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees.

As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. 

Above all - and perhaps this is the hardest thing they face - they must journey to find each other again.

About the author:

Brought up in London, Christy Lefteri is the child of Cypriot refugees. She is a lecturer in creative writing at Brunel University. 

The Beekeeper of Aleppo was born out of her time working as a volunteer at a Unicef supported refugee centre in Athens, and draws on her own personal experiences getting to know those escaping harrowing war torn regions. 

Everything in the book; dark or beautiful has come directly from people she has met.