Published 15th November 2022 by Hodder and Stoughton.
From the cover of the book:
Olivia fled her abusive marriage to return to her hometown and take over the family beekeeping business when her son Asher was six. Now, impossibly, her baby is six feet tall and in his last year of high school, a kind, good-looking, popular ice hockey star with a tiny sprite of a new girlfriend.Lily also knows what it feels like to start over - when she and her mother relocated to New Hampshire it was all about a fresh start. She and Asher couldn't help falling for each other, and Lily feels happy for the first time. But can she trust him completely?
Then Olivia gets a phone call - Lily is dead, and Asher is arrested on a charge of murder. As the case against him unfolds, she realises he has hidden more than he's shared with her. And Olivia knows first-hand that the secrets we keep reflect the past we want to leave behind - and that we rarely know the people we love well as we think we do.
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Olivia runs the family bee-keeping business in Adams, New Hampshire, where she lives with her son Asher who will soon be off to college. She often reflects on where life has brought her since she returned home to escape an abusive marriage, when Asher was only six years old, and marvels at the popular and sporty young man he has grown into - a young man so clearly in love with his girlfriend Lily.
Lily is the new girl in town, having recently moved to Adams with her mother, and they are both hoping for a new start. Lily has never been happy, and she suddenly finds herself in a relationship with a young man that seems to really care about her. But is she ready to share her secrets with him?
Then, Olivia's settled life comes crashing down with a phone call. Lily is dead, and Asher has been arrested on a charge of murder. As the case gets underway, Olivia realises that there are things that Asher has not told her about himself and his relationship with Lily. Does she really know him at all? And is Asher like his father, despite all she has done to separate him from his influence?
Mad Honey is one of those books that has taken social media by storm, in part because of its bold attempt to address some issues that are not only timely, but also tricky to incorporate in a book intended for a mass market audience. I would like to begin by saying that I greatly admire Jodie Picoult as an author for the way she often brings sensitive topics into the stories she writes, and has a talent for making people think about the issues that surround them - often in ways that make them uncomfortable. Long may she do so.
In this case, there are storylines covered in Mad Honey (which a fear of spoilers prevents me from stating here) that Picoult confesses she did not feel were entirely hers to tell, and as result, this is an intriguing collaborative project with Jennifer Finney Boylan. I leave you to decide for yourselves whether this is ultimately a book that is the better for this, or not, but her honesty is commendable nonetheless.
The story takes the form of two narratives from the points of view of Olivia and Lily, which jump back and forth in time. Obviously Lily's account can only cover her history, and the events leading up to her demise in Adams, but in Olivia's case there is a lot more ground to be examined in terms of before, during, and after the court case - including moments from her abusive marriage. In between, there is a lot of information about honey, bee-keeping and the mythology/mysticism connected with bees too, which is absolutely fascinating.
For the most part, this is a book that keeps you turning the pages, as any Picoult novel normally does, with cleverly crafted suspenseful story telling, and unflinching descriptions of distressing scenes that are hard to read. As expected, this story has you frequently confronting ideas you may hold around the subjects addressed, and asks you to look at things in a different way. There are many elements here that work well - most strikingly, the way the authors examine the difference between things that are 'secret' and those which are 'private', and how we decide what we share about ourselves to others. Although the characters are mostly unlikeable, even at the end of the book, I did like Elizabeth very much, who it seems to me is the only person here to really show any wisdom or compassion, and deserved a much bigger part in the story. I very much enjoyed the clever twist at the end too.
Although, as the tale progresses more moments tend to raise their heads that are just a little too contrived to fit of the plot the authors have mapped out, and there is way too much going on. During these times there is a marked loss of authenticity, and it is hard to see exactly what the authors want you to focus on. I cannot decide if this is a by-product of the co-authorship, a factor of where the book is aimed at readership-wise, or simply an attempt to find parallels between the stories. This is a novel packed to the gills with family drama, and well-timed reveals, but sometimes an intelligent exploration of the nitty-gritty of the subject matter is lost in pursuit of making it a tense court-room/crime story affair, which I think is a shame. Incidentally, there is very little connection between any of the female characters in this tale as they are all horribly isolated. If you are at the beginning of your journey considering the issues raised in these pages, then you may well find yourself mulling over some interesting topics, but for me it proves to a more of a superficial scratching of the surface of multiple issues rather than something to really get your teeth into.
I do feel that this is a book that would also benefit from suggested further reading, and an appended list of organisations to contact if you have been affected by the issues touched upon, but neither are included.
I think this was a bold and interesting choice of book for a Tandem Readalong, and even though it did not quite live up to my expectations, I am glad to have finally read it. It certainly has a lot of merit in attempting to undertake a difficult task, and I hope it proves useful in promoting healthy discussion.
A note on content warnings: Having inadvertently seen the extensive list of of warnings that came with this book as part of the readalong, the major plot reveal was completely spoiled for me before I even began reading. This has inevitably coloured my opinion of the book, which makes me rather sad. This is neither the time, nor the place, for a conversation about the value of content warnings vs the psychological benefits of using stories that address our triggers as a tool which can help us grow and move forward. However, I would like to make the point that not everyone wants, or needs, to see them - especially when they contain massive spoilers that ruin the carefully thought out intentions of an author (or authors), so please be mindful of this when you are sharing them in a way that potential readers cannot avoid seeing.
Mad Honey is available to buy now hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton for sending me a hardcover copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Tandem for inviting me to be part of this readalong.
About the authors:
Jenny is a well known advocate for human rights. She lives in Maine with her wife Deirdre. They have two children.
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