【 THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO 】

I don’t even know what to do with myself after this book.

Genre: Fiction
Author: Christy Lefteri
Published: February 2020
Publisher: Manilla Press
Pages: 377 (paperback)

Content warning (click to see)

war – refugee crisis – bombs – grief – death

I listened to the audiobook version of this and it scrunched my heart up, bounced it around, and threw it back at me. There is so much emotion in this story and I feel this is a book everyone needs to read.

Following the story of two Syrian refugees’ journey to the UK, this tells us more than just the hardship of their journey – but of grief, love, companionship, friendship and grounding yourself in your identity.

Nuri was a character I connected with instantly. The story is told in a jumbled way (which felt very appropriate), starting at the end and bumping around to the beginning, middle, back to the beginning and so on and so forth.

It’s not confusing at all, though. It follows a logical flow to explain thoughts by going back to a memory and a time that explores the origins of Nuri’s feelings about something happening now.

It’s a truly heart-wrenching story that has me gripped and wanting so badly to help Nuri, Afra and everyone they meet along the way to reach safety and have people believe them.

This book is also a great eye-opener for better understanding the emotional turmoil of refugees, and is a doorway that opens a path for empathising with them and understanding their plight.

I love the way the author constructed this story and the throughline of bee-keeping which was beautiful. It’s a tale of tenacity, strength and finding a way back to love when you feel very broken inside.

Loved it! You need to read this.

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