The Bees

Synopsis

A thriller set in a bee-hive, based on real honeybee biology. Class, caste, and mother love, in a society forty thousand years old. Translated into 16 languages to date.

Flora 717 is a worker bee born into the lowest caste of her totalitarian hive society. Though prepared to sacrifice everything for the Queen and work herself to death, she is a survivor who escapes internal massacres, religious purges, and can even successfully confront a huge marauding wasp. With each act of bravery her status grows, revealing both the enemies within, and the sinister secrets that rule the hive. But when Flora’s devotion to a life of service is overwhelmed by fierce and forbidden maternal love, she must break the most sacred law of all, and embark on a collision course with everything she holds most dear.

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Literary Awards:

  • Longlisted
  • Winner, Fiction
  • Shortlisted

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