The Bees Lib/E
The Handmaid's Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an ancient culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means death.
Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive's survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw but her courage and strength are an asset. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect pollen. She also finds her way into the Queen's inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous.
But when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all--daring to challenge the Queen's fertility--enemies abound, from the fearsome fertility police who enforce the strict social hierarchy to the high priestesses jealously wedded to power. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart, her society--and lead her to unthinkable deeds.
Thrilling, suspenseful and spectacularly imaginative, The Bees gives us a dazzling young heroine and will change forever the way you look at the world outside your window.
Earn by promoting books
Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.
Become an affiliate
Orlagh Cassidy is the winner of the 2009 Best Voice in Children & Family Listening and the 2008 and 2011 Best Voice in Mystery & Suspense. She's narrated for Jacqueline Winspear, James Patterson, Erica Spindler, Beth Harbison, and Frank Herbert, among others.
Cassidy's Broadway credits include Present Laughter with Frank Langella, Our Country's Good, and Suddenly Last Summer. She has appeared Off-Broadway in Bright Ideas and The Field at The Irish Rep (Drama Desk Nomination). She was Doris Wolfe on The Guiding Light and her other television appearances include Sex and the City, Law & Order, Law and Order SVU, and Elementary. She also appeared in the films Purple Violets, Young Adult, and Definitely, Maybe.The Bees is an extraordinary feat of imagination, conjuring the life of a beehive in gripping, passionate, and brilliant detail. With every page I turned, I found myself drawn deeper into Flora's plight and her immersive, mesmerizing world.
-- "Madeline Miller, New York Times bestselling author"The Bees is one wild ride. A sensual, visceral mini-epic about timeless rituals and modern environmental disaster. Paull's heart pounding novel wrenches us into a new world.
-- "Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author"[A] gripping Cinderella/Arthurian tale with lush Keatsian adjectives.
-- "Margaret Atwood, New York Times bestselling author"Paull's ambitious and bold first novel...is told with rapturously attentive imagination...[and] propulsive and addictive prose...Few novels create such a singular reading experience. The buzz you will hear surrounding this book and its astonishing author is utterly deserved.
-- "New York Times Book Review"Richly imagined.
-- "Los Angeles Times"Riveting... evocative and beautiful.
-- "NPR"It quickly became clear that in its basic facts, the novel sticks closely to real-world apian biology and behavior. That is fascinating enough, but Paull deftly wields this information to create an even more elaborately layered culture of beeness...Beautiful.
-- "Washington Post"Fascinating...engrossing...Paull's clear fascination with her source material brings humanity and warmth to a depiction of the remarkable social world of bees, which is no small achievement.
-- "Huffington Post"Brilliantly imagined...Paull's use of human language to describe this tiny, intricate world is classic storytelling at its finest...The Bees boasts a refreshingly feminist spin on fairy tale-style plots....A wildly creative book that resonates deeply for quite a long time.
-- "Austin Chronicle"A marvelous work of fiction...The parallels to 1984 and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale are numerous, but this story is also its own.
-- "Florida Times-Union"Paull's debut presents the intricate world of the honeybee hive, where devotion and service are sacred and caste, politics, and power are as present as in any human royal court. A powerful story reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, in which one original and independent thinker can change the course of a whole society.
-- "Library Journal, (starred review)"Imagine a story similar to Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale but told from the perspective of an insect. That's exactly the premise of Paull's debut novel...Paull's plot brings to mind films like the 1998 hit Antz, but her deft storytelling and her nod to scientific literature allow the story to avoid the cutesy trappings that sometimes characterize novels featuring nonhuman characters. A surprisingly compelling tale.
-- "Booklist"Dystopia meets the Discovery Channel in this audacious debut novel...Like Animal Farm for the Hunger Games generation, Paull's book features characters who are both anthropomorphized and not-insects scientifically programmed to 'accept, obey, and serve' but who also find themselves capable of questioning that programming...And while Flora 717 may not be the next Katniss Everdeen, she symbolizes the power that knowledge has to engender change, even in nature.
-- "Publishers Weekly"Paull deserves kudos for a daring idea.
-- "Kirkus Reviews"Narrator Orlagh Cassidy's enchanting performance enriches this debut novel...Cassidy's vivid, engaging characterizations quickly transport listeners into the busy world of the bees...As Flora transcends her destiny, moving up through the ranks to forager, Cassidy expertly conveys the bee's astonishment at each new discovery, curiosity about the outside world, and bravery when defending her sisters against attack. The success of this audiobook lies in Cassidy's respectful yet lively narration, which enables listeners to connect with the story on a number of levels. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award.
-- "AudioFile"
