The Death of Bees

by Lisa O'Donnell

Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved.

Marnie and her little sister Nelly are on their own now. Only they know what happened to their parents, Izzy and Gene, and they aren’t telling. While life in Glasgow’s Hazlehurst housing estate isn’t grand, they do have each other. Besides, it’s only one year until Marnie will be considered an adult and can legally take care of them both.

As the new year comes and goes, Lennie, the old man next door, realizes that his young neighbors are alone and need his help. Or does he need theirs? But he’s not the only one who suspects something isn’t right. Soon, the sisters’ friends, their other neighbors, the authorities, and even Gene’s nosy drug dealer begin to ask questions. As one lie leads to another, dark secrets about the girls’ family surface, creating complications that threaten to tear them apart.

Written with fierce sympathy and beautiful precision, told in alternating voices, The Death of Bees is an enchanting, grimly comic tale of three lost souls who, unable to answer for themselves, can answer only for each other.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Book Club, Contemporary, Coming Of Age, Mystery, Scotland

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2012

About the author

Lisa O’Donnell winner of The Orange Prize for New Screenwriters with her screenplay The Wedding Gift in 2000. Lisa was also nominated for the Dennis Potter New Writers Award in the same year. She moved to Los Angeles with her family in 2006, penning her first novel The Death of Bees in 2010. Published to critical acclaim by Windmill Books in 2012 The Death of Bees will be published in the US by Harper Collins January 2013. The author is very excited!

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

What on earth is happening to the bees? They say it is an ecological disaster, an environmental holocaust. Every day I wonder what the blazes can be causing this abuse of our ecosystem. Chemicals I hear, pesticides. I don’t understand it, really I don’t. Our planet faces extinction and yet nobody seems to care. Am I afraid? You bet your bottom dollar I am.

The environment in which sisters Marnie and Nelly find themselves does indeed look poisoned beyond hope. How can anything survive? This is working class Glasgow and the girls are alone. The book opens with one of the better first paragraphs I have read.

Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved.

Marnie’s little sister Helen, aka Nelly, has gone and done it. Put the pillow over her father, Gene’s, drugged out face and completed for him the self-destruction he had made his life work. He would abuse her and Marnie no more. Mom, Izzy, made another in a lifetime of awful decisions and headed off to the shack to add her name to the list of those who have gone before. Consider it addition by subtraction. No more need to worry about all potential food money going up noses, into veins or being poured from amber bottles. No more concern about other sorts of abuse, too. But if the authorities find out, the girls will be separated for sure, tossed back into foster care, with who knows what sorts. The solution? A quiet back-yard burial. Who is to take care of these two?

I suppose I’ve always taken care of us really. I was changing nappies at five years old and shopping at seven, cleaning and doing laundry as soon as I knew my way to the launderette and pushing Nelly about in her wee buggy when I was six. They used to call me wee Maw around the towers, that’s how useless Gene and Izzy were. They just never showed up for anything and it was always left to me and left to Nelly when she got old enough. They were never there for us, they were absent, at least now we know where they are.

Across the fence lives an old man, Lennie, still mourning the loss of his soul mate of forty years. That boy from whom he sought temporary comfort in the park was not as old as he claimed and now Lennie must endure vandals spray-painting his property and enduring the shame of being on a sex offender list.

Author Lisa O’Donnell grew up in public housing to very young parents. In an interview with Powell’s (link at bottom) she talks about the Thatcher-era environment in which she was raised. The primary inspiration for this story came from her days in Scotland, but they were reinforced when she saw similar horrors after she crossed the pond and was living in East LA, children put in charge of children, wastrel parents, childhood denied.


Lisa O’Donnell - image from NY Times - photo credit - Vanessa Stunp

Actual parents do not come across very well in O’Donnell’s world. Teacher sorts are a mixed lot and the state agents base their actions on formulae instead of reality. O’Donnell paints a very bleak portrait of working class life in Glasgow. The girls have been damaged by their upbringing. Marnie helps a local drug dealer and relieves her stress with shagging. Nelly insulates herself from the world by speaking in a queenly manner. She plays the violin beautifully but completely freaks out when encountering reminders of her precarious state.

Will the girls be able to keep their ruse going long enough for Marnie to reach 16, when the state will consider her an adult and allow her to legally take care of Nelly?

When the girls’ long-absent grandfather pops into the picture, looking to atone for a lifetime of being a bloody horror, things get even more complicated. He may mean well right now, but born-again or not, this is the guy who had a hand in creating one of those awful parents. His sobriety is not to be presumed, and there is a history of abandonment and violence to boot.

Marnie’s friends add to the pile of woe, coping with their own missing family members, and travails of one sort and another.

There is enough sadness here to fill a cemetery, but there is sweetness to come.

As dark as things appear, a glimmer of light shines through. Lennie is not only no sexual predator, he is just a lonely man with a need to care, and care he does, slowly taking the girls in, offering them the sort of loving home life they had never experienced from their biological parents.

There is plenty of tension in this book. Will Lennie’s dog, Bobby, succeed in his relentless mission, trying to dig up the buried remains? This bit does seem rather clichéd. Can Grandpa be trusted? Will the drug dealer kill them trying to retrieve money owed him by a dead parent?

I know, I know, it sounds pretty dark. And a lot of it certainly is, but there is such warmth in this book, such humanity, such caring, that you will be cheering by the end. Can Lennie’s light shine these girls past the darkness? And there is redemption from another quarter, as Marnie provides the vehicle for a baddie to tuck away his stinger.

These are teenagers and that means coming of age. The sisters in O’Donnell’s tale begin at somewhat extreme ends and move towards each other over the course of the story. Marnie, world weary at fifteen, with the help of people who actually care about her, despite some self-destructive behavior, begins to find her inner softness, her inner vulnerability, her inner child. The decidedly odd Nelly matures, moving from being a very dependent child to someone with much more appreciation for the world and her place in it.

There are multiple, alternating narrators here. Lennie talks to his dead love, Joseph. Marnie and Nelly narrate their sections as well, and speak in distinct and appropriate voices. O’Donnell is a screenwriter, so has a keen ear for dialogue.

There are some rough edges here. Nellly is described early on as a Harry Potter fanatic, but nothing much is made of it after that mention. The girls manage some significant work in places where it is surprising that their labors go undetected. O’Donnell relies too much on coincidence in constructing her climax. Would this or that person really have shown up where and when they do? Nevertheless the beauty here is in how two damaged, abandoned girls can be welcomed, nurtured, and allowed a real home and how a lonely soul can provide it, constructing the family they all desperately need. There is plenty of redemption to go around in this dark place. I was reminded a bit of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road , another tale that casts love and hope against an intensely bleak background, the better to draw our attention to the light. The Death of Bees may not be a perfect book but does celebrate the triumph of hope over despair, and it is certain to generate a lot of buzz.

The Trade Paperback version came out on October 22, 2013

O’Donnell was awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Book Prize for The Death of Bees

=============================EXTRA STUFF

O'Donnell on FB and GR

Interviews
-----USA Tday - New Voices: Lisa O'Donnell, from Scotland via L.A. from December 2012 - by Bob Minzesheimer
-----NPR - Weekend Edition - 'Death Of Bees' Captures A Grim, Gory Coming-Of-Age - from January 5, 2013
-----Powell's - Lisa O'Donnell: The Powells.com Interview by Jill Owens

[Kat (Lost in Neverland) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was going to give this four stars but you know what, I say fuck it. Five stars, bitches.




This book is fucked up. I am not exaggerating.
If you are squeamish when it comes to heavy swearing, drugs, gore, fifteen year olds having sex with older men, and lots of death and seemingly unaffected 12 year old girls, you shouldn't touch this book with a ten foot pole.

And honestly, there are parts of The Death of Bees that made me frown and shift uncomfortably in my chair. Especially when Marnie, who is fucking 15 years old mind you, goes off to have sex with the ice cream man, who is married and has kids, and sells drugs instead of ice cream.
This book really had some morbid humor in it, and other times it's just plain morbid.

And I loved every fucked up second of it. Not the sex with older men part; the morbid, dark, poetic part, which was basically the whole book.

It is brutal. It is honest. It is blunt. It makes me never want to move to Scotland.
(I mean seriously guys, Marnie was riding a bike through a park and people are literally doing it under blankets all over the place apparently. I mean what come on what is this wtf no wonder this fifteen year old fucks guys like Sherlock and Merlin ruin lives.)

The characters were extremely unique and likeable because they're human and they make mistakes. Bad, shameful mistakes, but everyone does and it adds to an already dark atmosphere in the novel.

At times poetic, and other times just damn weird, The Death of Bees is incredibly deep and oddly humorous occasionally, but it might just make you cry (like it did me).
I am eagerly awaiting anything this woman writes next.






























Don't click this.

Go read the book instead.

Do it. NOW.


Lennie.


Why he have to die?

[Karen Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do not read this books if:

You hate bad language and have a weak stomach.
You love long, windy and beautiful prose.
You are looking for something happy and fluff.
You can't stand cruel acts against others, especially minors.
You need confirmation that life and beautiful, or
you believe that all human are capable of love.

If you belong to one of the above groups, you probably shouldn't read a book that begins with two girls burying their parents in the back yard, should you? I think you should stop and walk away now. But, if you are an adventurous and open-minded type, and a serious reader who enjoy all sorts of delivering ideas and language, then this books would be a treat for you. Before you dive it, I'll have to alert you, every possible crime and unimaginable cruelty under the sky was committed by someone or to someone in this book.

I think I might have an affinity to child narrators, since I've loved and praised so many (except Room). Yet here's another wonderful book narrated by a child, the 15-year-old Marnie. Marnie has a sister, Nelly, who's 12. Both smart, precocious and understand life much better than you and I do. When both parents died under some unpreventable circumstances, the girls decided to bury them in the back yard, since their parents were not the loving/caring kind, the girls absolutely hated the foster system, and Marnie was not yet 16. They were hoping to hide the secret until Marnie turned 16 and be responsible of both herself and her sister, which she has been doing anyway.

The book is narrated by three voices: Marnie, Nelly and Lennie. Lennie is an older gay man who took the girls under his wings, hoping for some kind of redemption for a mistake he committed a while ago. Lennie's parts were written as if he was talking to his partner, whom he lost a while ago. Marnie's narratives were brutal, down-to-the-point, and lack of polish with a bit of humor. It took me a while to get used to, but then I fell for her hard and couldn't get her out of my mind. She was practically a baby but had to endure so much but acting tough, since there was no one to look after her.

"Our phone died. Just like that. We can't call the local constabulary and we can't call an ambulance. Have you ever heard of such a thing? A calamity and no mistake."

"I just don't get why anyone would want to ink their name or their secrets on the surface of their skin, why can't they just keep them inside like I do?....I'm never getting a tattoo. My secrets are etched safely on the inside and I intend to keep them there."

The book was a page-turner for me. I think the author did quite a good job in keeping the plot interesting and engaging. The characters were great. Each of them was deep and etched vividly in my mind no matter how unimportant they were in the story. I deliberately slowed down reading near the end just to enjoy Marnie and Nelly's voices a bit more. This author was successful in building a great plot as well as developing his characters, which I've only seen in a few authors. The ending was also quite satisfactory.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book. It's told in vignettes from the point of view of two sisters and a neighbor. It takes place in Glasgow Scotland, and the two sisters, 15 and 12 are basically neglected children of drug addicts. The story opens with the older sister explaining that the Dad died one night, and the Mom hung herself shortly thereafter. The girls bury the bodies in the back yard because they don't want to be placed in the social system .....again. O'Donnell does a fabulous job of character development. I felt like I knew these people, understood them, felt for them and rooted for them. Lennie, the next door neighbor, is gay and just lost his partner. He is sad and lonely. He has always noticed the poor girls alone, and sees that they are "abandoned" yet again. He gets involved, trying to feed them and take care of them. It's a sweet story that is fully of life's gritty ugly details. The girls are survivors and trying to make it through life. It's a story of 3 lost souls who find each other and help each other. A very fast read because it's so enjoyable.......

[Noeleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lisa O’Donnell’s The Death of Bees is a really good read for a debut novel. It is not a happy tale. It is a grim, raw, sad and thought-provoking story. It’s a really quick read, a book that you would read in a few hours because you can’t help but keep turning the pages to find out what happens next. I loved the short chapters and the way the story was told from the perspective of the three main characters. I completely enjoyed the author’s style of writing. The prose at times was razor-sharp, focused and most importantly, realistic. At other times the prose was very beautiful, lyrical and almost poetic. The blending of the two variations of prose really worked well for this novel.

The three main characters, sisters Marnie and Nelly and their neighbour Lennie are all very different and wonderfully interesting in their own individual way. Different individuals they may be, yet, they are all seeking normality, acceptance and love. Marnie, headstrong, bold, daring and brave, but behind the bravado, there was a young girl really struggling with the appalling circumstances of her life. Lennie too was a great character. I really felt sorry for him and loved his reminisces of his past and his thoughts on his relationship with Joseph, in particular. But it was Nelly who was most definitely my favourite character. It was like O’Donnell plucked Nelly from a novel set in the 1800’s and slapped her bang in the middle of modern day Glasgow, unfortunately a Glasgow full of squalor, abuse and unhappiness. Nelly really made me smile a lot throughout the book. I think her personality was a façade for dealing with her shocking reality. She was a strange, odd character indeed yet the chapters she featured in were my most favourite. Overall, a strange, odd and wonderfully weird book but an excellent debut novel and I look forward to reading more from this author.

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colin Pie here, standing in for the financial liability and tantric lovemaster MJ Nicholls. I received a postcard from him this morning. He says he tried to send me a text message but he was stuck up a hill. I also received a telegram from him this morning explaining he tried to send a postcard but he was nowhere near a post office. An email came through this afternoon explaining he would have sent an email but he wasn’t inside. And while I wrote that last sentence, he was on the phone explaining he would have phoned but he was too busy writing a postcard, a telegram and an email. He’s a scamp.

1) THIS BOOK. A debut novel from a Scottish(?) screenwriter currently trying to make it in LA. Two sisters from a Glasgow housing scheme come home to find their father’s head bashed in and their mother hanging from the ceiling. Afraid of becoming state-funded orphans, they bury their parents in the back garden (skilfully managing to avoid their nosy neighbour Lennie), then carry on as normal, minus their unfortunate betters (inferiors). It’s a magical mix of black comedy, coming-of-age drama, and quirky mainstream fiction.

2) THAT BOOK. Manages to balance the dark slapstick and outrageously laidback attitude towards underage sex and drug-popping with moments of tenderness, intelligence and humility. Marnie is the wild older sister who indulges in hedonistic binges of voddy and teenage penis, while Nelly is her younger who speaks in a clipped English accent and likes Coke on her cornflakes. The novel establishes its own internal reality and logic, so easily bats away criticisms of preposterousness. At its heart it is a gentle book about family, sisterly survival and escaping the oppressive heat of an unfeeling city environment.

3) WHY IS COLIN PIE? I was once accused of stealing a balloon. I never stole the balloon. I simply released it into nature. That didn’t stop the police from stomping into my house, hauling me off to prison. Fools.

4) BOOK. The structure and narrative toggling is somewhat simplistic, spread over a four-month cycle, alternating between three characters. This makes it extremely easy to follow but doesn’t leave room for any ambiguity, mystery or gameplay. All the characters speak in direct first-person prose, occasionally addressing a deceased relative, but what is said is said without any space for the daring complexity of a devious third-person narrator. Oh they can be yummy. Also, sometimes Marnie’s intelligence feels exaggerated so she can speak profound, literary sentences, but you’d have to be an absolute swine to deny O’Donnell this contrivance. I didn’t steal that damn balloon.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

After I Capture the Castle, which was, darlings, frankly a complete disahster, what do I do but pick up another novel narrated mostly by a teenage girl. However, this one was a turtle of a different complexion. Indeed, it was rather wonderful.

So, here we have a novel about miserable scummy British (in this case Scottish) underclass lives which can be viewed in many British movies such as Neds, Broken, A Way of Life, Ladybird Ladybird, Nil by Mouth and so forth. I mostly enjoy this kind of movie in the same way I used to enjoy Leonard Cohen albums. You end up vibrating mildly from utter horror.

The recipe for this novel was : slice half a pound of The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (in which the kids bury their parents and live alone in the house); add in several pints of a wonderful Japanese movie called Nobody Knows* (where the abandoned kids manage to avoid detection by the authorities for months) and grate over the top a generous helping of the Voice of Baba, the foulmouthed hilarious best-friend in Edna O’Brien’s Country Girls novels.

Then serve up the resulting dish in one to three page sections spoken by sisters Nelly and Marnie and neighbour Lennie, somewhat like the interviews-to-camera in Modern Family (Cameron, Haley and Alex), only with rotting corpses and dealing jellies instead of adopted Vietnamese babies and dude ranch holidays. Since The Cement Garden, Nobody Knows, The Country Girls and Modern Family are four of my favourite things (way ahead of schnitzel with noodles) this novel was good to go.

And it went, like a rocket. Read in one day. Great stuff.

Honesty bids me confess that I did cavil slightly at two aspects:

1) Is it credible that a 15 year old girl and a 12 year old girl could in the depths of a Scottish winter dig a grave for a man’s body in the garden? Hmmm? Wouldn’t the ground be rock hard? Last time I tried to bury a man in my back garden in winter I gave up after three hours of fruitless hacking and confessed to the police.
2) The younger sister talks in an insanely posh/affected/antiquated manner which is entertaining but deeply silly. E.g. :

He was a very pleasant lad and strangely familiar to me, not that I got a chance to quiz the fellow for he ran off and with the greatest of haste to fetch some milk, which was rather a pointless feat given we hadn’t even been offered a cup of tea.

Contrast that with sister Marnie describing a painful first meeting with her boyfriend’s rich liberal parents:

The tension in the room is well tasty unlike the green tea they’re serving in the tiny wee teapot with matching egg cups. They’re dying for me to ask about it so they can babble about their halcyon days living in Tibet. Five minutes in the room and these people are seriously giving me the dry boke.

Oh Marnie, you crack me up.


*

[Britany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best opening paragraph ever: "Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved."

Two sisters, Nelly and Marnie, find themselves orphaned. They bury their parents in their backyard for fear of being collected by the government and put into the foster care system. Marnie is almost 16, which apparently is the legal age in Glasgow. Their interactions, and relationship is so riveting, it takes the reader into the harsh reality of two very different sisters, that have to overcome the impossible in order to survive together.

They end up living with the neighbor, Lennie, who is an elderly man with a questionable past. I fell in love with Lennie and Buddy, his dog.

Such a well drawn out story, I found myself not being able to put this one down, and really rooting for Nelly and Marnie to make it out ok.

**Caution: this contains tough subjects, bad language, and uncomfortable situations**

[☮Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this story, which was macabre for sure, but still I found myself smiling throughout. The girls have buried their dead abusive parents in the garden, and no, that is not funny, yet all the events going on around them and their quick thinking had me turning the pages one after the other to see what else could possibly happen. Marnie and her too cool to be kind attitude, little Nelly's very British way of talking, calling Lenny an old chap and Marnie's boyfriend a cad and a blaggard, and neighbor Lenny's lonely compassion all swept me up, as the three of them make a life together as if nothing's wrong. Love didn't exist for any of them for quite some time before the parents made their exit, so as Nelly said to their memory, "A good ruddy riddance to you."

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 One of the strongest and strangest opening paragraphs of any books I have read. Dysfunctional family and the way the girls have been effected by their parents negligent care are the basis but there is so much more to this novel. The two girls, Marnie and Nelly, are sisters who try to take care of each other in the face of any and all adversity. Lonnie, the man next store tries to take care and help the girls and it is his actions that will have the greatness impact on their young lives. After the beginning the reader think he know what has happened but in fact there is so much more to be discovered. O'Donnell has managed to take three characters that we should not like and make them extremely likable despite their many imperfections. Enjoyed this quirky, coming of age debut novel by this talented author.

[Scottsdale Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this in a weekend! This is a book you read when you want to get lost in a good book.

Two tough sisters end up without parents and take action to not end up in government custody. I love the sisters’ pluck and tenacity. Nellie is one of the most unique characters I have ever come across, and I could not get enough of her speech. The author hails from Scotland, immersing the reader in Scottish dialect as the story is told from three different perspectives.

I mourned finishing this book! -Lisanne E.

[Laima · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

I received this book from the generous Karen who was giving away goodies from her BEA and ALA adventures. THANK YOU!! I really enjoyed it.

The title is obscure …. this novel is not about bees.

It is a story about secrets. Everyone has them. Everyone is trying to hide them. Some secrets are more difficult to cover up than others. The fact that a character is gay, sells drugs, is on a sex offender list, picks up minors for prostitution, is having an affair, abuses his wife and daughter, has a proclivity for young girls, well, these are small potatoes that characters are trying to hide here. The biggest secret of all belongs to sisters Marnie and Nelly.

People are asking questions. Where are your parents? When are they returning? The truancy officer wants to speak with them. The school wants to meet with the parents. The long lost grandfather appears and wants to know where his daughter is. Why does your house smell so badly? How could they go to Turkey if their passports are still here??

Izzy and Gene are dead. Marnie and Nelly have buried them in the backyard . Izzy in the coal shed and Gene in a shallow grave covered with lavender. The author paints Izzy and Gene as horrible parents, people who are so self-absorbed with a life of drugs that they can’t take care of themselves, let alone parent their daughters. How and why they died? Well that would be a spoiler… so I’m not getting into that.

This book was hard to put down. At times really morbid and sad but also very, very funny. This is a dark comedy, black humor at its best.

Gene’s flesh was literally falling off him and ripping like paper in some places. Every time we moved him he made a noise, like a fart, except wet and by the time we’d reached the top of the stairs we’d had enough and couldn’t bear to hold him any longer. At one point his arm escaped, limp as a rope, Nelly tried to cover it, but she accidentally caught his hand and his fingernail came away and got stuck in the knit of her glove. She boked then and couldn’t take it anymore. Neither could I, so we mutually agreed to push him off the top landing and let him roll to the bottom. It was the worst thing we could have done. He burst at the seams, body fluid everywhere, on the carpet, on the walls, a swamp of poison. …. We had to get a wheelbarrow in the end, stole it from the next-door neighbour, then we spooned Gene off the floor and took him out back.

With an odd assortment of characters, the story really holds your interest.

Marnie is almost sixteen and very feisty. She barely attends school and still manages to maintain straight A’s. Nelly, only twelve, has a habit of speaking proper English “She sounds like the Queen of England most of the time.” Nelly is also a very talented violin player. Elderly neighbor, Lennie the pervert, feels sorry for the girls and believes the parents have abandoned them. These are the three main characters. They grow to depend on each other and form a family of sorts, in a sad kind of way.

Lenny is a good friend to the girls and has their best interest at heart. One of the lessons of the story, in my opinion, is that you should not be judgmental. People have reasons for doing what they do and hiding dark secrets.

Some secrets cannot hide for long though. How the parents are discovered is hilarious.

If you enjoy dark humor, read this book! Have a good laugh.

Thanks again, Karen!

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eugene Doyle, Born 19 June 1972. Died 17 December 2010, aged thirty-eight.
Isabel Ann Macdonald. Born 24 May 1974. Died 18 December 2010, aged thirty-six.
Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard.
Neither of them were beloved.

So begins “The Death of Bees”

Marnie and Helen, called Nelly, find themselves somewhat suddenly without father, Gene, after someone decided that they’d had enough of him abusing his daughters, and mom, Izzy, who quietly goes to the shack and is found later by Marnie. It’s not a big loss, really, not when Marnie’s been taking care of Nelly all along, really. She’s taken care of Nelly since she was little, cooking, cleaning, shopping. They will have money for food that would have gone to Gene’s drugs or booze before, all they have to do is make sure no one finds out. Then there’s that one last problem: what to do with those pesky bodies? And so Marnie and Nelly set about digging up graves in their backyard – in Glasgow, in the winter, but at least they’ll know where their parents are, for a change.

The next-door neighbor, Lennie is preoccupied with the loss of his partner, but eventually even he can’t help but realize that he can’t remember the last time that Gene and Izzy taunted him with their name calling, but Lennie isn’t really a sexual predator, and while his name is on “the list” how was he to know that young man was younger than he said he was.

When Lennie comes to their aid one day, Marnie is reluctant to trust, but Nelly feels at home in Lenny’s picture perfect home. Nelly’s always felt she belonged in a home like this and is happy with someone who appreciates her musical aptitude and her “queenly” manner of speaking. Marnie succumbs a bit when Lennie stands by their side when a parent is needed, and his cooking doesn’t hurt a bit, either. The worst thing about Lennie is his damn dog – who likes to dig. In the “garden” in their back yard. Bad dog.

I found myself holding my breath in a lot of the more intense situations, this is overall such a great book with so many alternating dark /intense situations, sad situations, probably too many unbelievable situations, much teen angst, but also many places where love shines from the people you’d least expect. I couldn't put it down.

[Aleshanee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich weiß grade gar nicht so recht, wo ich anfangen soll. Ich hatte eher mit einer schwarzhumorigen Komödie gerechnet, was sie zum einen Teil auch ist, wobei ich stellenweise nicht wusste, ob ich tatsächlich lachen oder weinen sollte.

Erzählt wird aus drei verschiedenen Perspektiven:

❇ Marnie ist 15 und denkt über sich selbst (Zitat auf Seite 12) "Zu jung zum Rauchen, zu jung zum Trinken und zu jung zum Ficken, aber wer sollte mich aufhalten?"
Sie ist sehr direkt in ihren Gedanken, mit denen sie sich dem Leser mitteilt, auch wenn sie selbst es gar nicht weiß. Sie verbarrikadiert alles hinter hohen Mauern, verdrängt was nur möglich ist, um ihr Leben auch nur einigermaßen erträglich zu machen.

❇ Nelly ist 12 und ihre jüngere Schwester. Während Marnie sich jedoch ständig betäubt und seelische Schmerzen zufügt, um andere Schmerzen zu vergessen, flüchtet sich Nelly in eine absolut andere Welt. Sie redet wie eine Erwachsene, spielt Geige wie eine Virtuosin und biegt sich die Wirklichkeit so zurecht, wie sie sie gerade noch bewältigen kann.

Beide sind klug, gewitzt und wahre Überlebenskünstler, denn das Leben, das ihre Eltern ihnen geboten haben, hat ihnen nichts geschenkt. Alkohol, Drogen, sexuelle Ausschweifungen und Vernachlässigung, das klingt so leicht dahin geschrieben aber wenn man liest, wie Marnie in ihrer spöttischen, bitteren Ironie erzählt was alles abgelaufen ist und wie sie damit umgeht, trifft es mitten ins Herz.

❇ Ins Herz trifft es auch Lennie, ihren Nachbarn. Einen älteren Mann, dessen Einsamkeit nur durch seinen Hund Bobby durchbrochen wird. Als er entdeckt dass die beiden Mädels plötzlich völlig alleine dastehen wird sein Beschützerinstinkt geweckt - und das Bedürftnis, das jeder in uns trägt: gebraucht zu werden.

Man muss hier wirklich auf die Feinheiten achten und zwischen den Zeilen lesen, denn auch wenn Marnie unverblümt und scheinbar ohne Gewissen vieles recht locker sieht, merkt man wohl wie ihr alles zuviel wird und wie sie sich danach sehnt, Menschen um sich zu haben die sich um sie kümmern, ihr Geborgenheit und Liebe schenken. Denen es wichtig ist, was sie tut.
Auch Nelly, bei der man noch schwerer hinter die Kulissen schauen kann, ist völlig überfordert und klammert sich an den einzigen Halt den sie in ihrem bisherigen Leben vor einem Absturz bewahrt hat: ihre große Schwester.
Lennie hingegen fühlt sich schuldig. Auch in seinem Leben lief nicht alles rund, aber im Herzen ist er ein guter Mensch und ein Segen für die beiden Mädchen.

Ich konnte das Buch kaum aus der Hand legen! Eine Katastrophe folgt der nächsten, ich war schockiert, bestürzt, hoffnungsvoll und gerührt, während diese drei Menschen alles versuchen, um das Leben in den Griff zu bekommen.
Die Kapitel sind sehr kurz und wechseln ständig zwischen den Charakteren ab - ein sehr guter Aufbau, weil man so auch öfters die Situationen aus den verschiedenen Sichtweisen erleben konnte. Es geht um Schuld, Scham, Verantwortung und Wiedergutmachung, um das Gefühl gebraucht zu werden, gesehen, angenommen, geliebt zu werden. Ohne dabei jedoch den anderen zu ersticken, sondern im die Luft zum Atmen, zum Leben zu lassen. Eben das, wonach sich jeder Mensch tief im Inneren sehnt.

Der Kern dabei war für mich auch die große Verantwortung die Eltern tragen, und warum manche das nicht können. Natürlich kommt hier die Frage nach der Schuld auf, doch die Autorin hat hier sehr schön gezeigt, dass man es sich damit oft zu leicht macht. Denn auch die Eltern hatten Eltern, unter denen sie aufgewachsen sind, und auch diese hatten Eltern, die ihnen ihren Stempel aufgedrückt haben. Es ist sehr schwierig, hier eine Grenze zu ziehen und obwohl ich hier natürlich die Eltern als Schuldige sehe (die wirklich bis ins letzte alles falsch gemacht haben), hatten sie durch ihre Vorgeschichten ebenfalls wenig Chancen, es anders, es besser zu machen.
Man kann nur hoffen, dass irgendwer mal diesen Kreislauf durchbricht, dass Kinder, Jugendliche und auch Erwachsene auf Menschen treffen die ihnen helfen können und sie einen Weg finden lassen, der Hoffnung auf etwas besseres verspricht. Und nein, das ist nicht leicht und nicht jeder kann das.

Aber auch die Vorurteile werden thematisiert, gerade Jugendlichen gegenüber, denn auch wenn man oft denkt, wie schlimm und schlampig und aggressiv und respektlos sie sich aufführen, hinter jedem dieser Menschen steckt eine Vergangenheit die wir nicht kennen, steckt ein Leben mit dem sie leben müssen und man darf sich kein Urteil erlauben bevor man nicht weiß, was sie zu dem gemacht hat, der sie jetzt sind. Die Autorin hat eine sehr entwaffnende Art, die Situationen auf eine witzige, tiefgründige und nachdenklich machende Weise zu erzählen, die mich sehr beeindruckt hat.

Kinder sind sehr anpassungsfähig und lieben ihre Eltern, egal was sie tun oder nicht tun, aber sie bezahlen dafür mit einem seelischen Schaden, der selten zu heilen ist. Sie leben, natürlich, die Frage ist nur: wie.
Solche Narben spürt man ein Leben lang und man kann nur hoffen, dass sie darüber hinaus wachsen, mit Menschen, die sie unterstützen und ihnen zeigen, dass sie es wert sind.

© Aleshanee
Weltenwanderer

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A copy of The Death of Bees was provided to me by Harper for review purposes.

"Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am 15. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved."

Launching right into the heart of the story, Marnie and Nelly bury their parents in the backyard after their father suffocates and their mothers hangs herself. With both parents gone the girls are left completely alone. Living in the slums of Glasgow, Scotland, Marnie makes a hasty decision to bury them both in the garden in order to avoid being placed into foster care. When Marnie turns 16 she can legally care for her sister so they just need to stay under the radar for one year. But between their curious but concerned neighbor and his inquisitive dog with a penchant for digging in their garden, a drug dealer their father owes money to, and a grandfather that wants to find his daughter their carefully constructed web of lies slowly begins to deteriorate.

Having lived with their parents misconduct their entire lives, finding their dead bodies didn't have the emotional impact that would be typical for most people. Marnie had already been taking care of her and her sister for years so not having their parents there really wasn't new. Except they were still there. Kind of. They were just in the garden now, buried under the lavender bushes.

It wasn't until later that I connected the dots and the references to the sexual abuse from their father. The author manages to indirectly reference the abuse both girls received from their father without going into unnecessary detail but I almost missed it entirely. The only indication given of this abuse was the lasting impacts both girls exhibit (i.e. Marnie's drinking and drug problems and lack of disregard for sleeping with married men and Nelly's ongoing night terrors.) Their experiences nevertheless created an unbreakable bond between the girls.

Throughout the story, the reference to people being 'monsters' for actions in their life that have inevitably gone on to define them. The elderly gay neighbor Lennie who takes it upon himself to care for the girls when they so desperately needed someone. But due to a past transgression that labeled him a sex offender he becomes identified as a monster. Marnie and Nelly's parents are more deserving of the label 'monster' because of the serious neglect of their children. The girls were forced to grow up at an extremely young age due to their parents terminal absence. Neither girl had anything close to a childhood and it was always a guessing game whether they would come home with groceries or drugs and booze. The children's grandfather that appears and suddenly wants to be a part of their life to make amends for past wrongs is also deserving of the title. But that's where the grey area develops: Do the girls actions make them monsters as well? Or is their behavior excusable because of everything they had already been through and what they were trying to avoid? The author doesn't provide any clear cut answer in determining who is right and who is wrong but it's safe to say that all characters are at fault in some way.

The style of writing and changes in point of view were brilliant. Each character had their own distinctive voice and their own important story. All points of view were told in first person but Lennie's was written almost as a letter or diary entries to his deceased lover, Joseph. Nelly is quite the eccentric 12 year-old that is a violin prodigy, has a fondness for old classic movies, and speaks as if, as Lennie put it, "like she swallowed a dictionary". Marnie, an extremely direct and to the point individual that carries a massive burden which she manages to somewhat hide. It's obvious that both girls lack necessary help, they just simply don't know where to look for it.

"What on earth is happening to the bees? They say it is an ecological disaster, an environment holocaust. Every day I wonder what the blazes can be causing this abuse of our ecosystem." -Nelly

The meaning behind the title eluded me for quite some time and I actually spent several hours pondering its significance. So this is what I came up with, but I could be completely off the mark, I have no idea but it really does seem to have a simple and straight forward meaning. As Nelly stated above, the death of bees is an ecological disaster and an environmental holocaust as bees play a major role and their deaths have a lasting effect. Even though their parents didn't play a major role in the girls lives, their deaths still managed to make a lasting impact on them.

'I fear death, I have always feared death. It comes like a gale and never with permission. I would meet it again today.'

'The Death of Bees' is gloomy, somber, and brutally realistic but darkly comedic as well. Enthralling and thought-provoking, you'll find yourselves racing to finish to find out these unforgettable girls' fate.

[Sarah Kallus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein unglaublich geniales Buch und zum Glück habe ich es nicht ausgemistet. Denn die letzten Monate hatte ich nie Lust auf das Buch und dachte mir immer, es wäre auch ok, wenn ich es nicht lese. Aber verdammt - ich bin froh, dass ich mich jetzt dazu gezwungen habe, damit anzufangen, denn als ich über die ersten fünf Seiten hinaus war, konnte ich nicht mehr damit aufhören! Dabei hatte ich es vor zwei Jahren ca. schon mal zu lesen angefangen! :D

Dieses Buch ist eine Glanzleistung. Noch nie habe ich in einem so kurzen Buch so genial strukturierte Charaktere gesehen. Jeder Mensch in dieser Geschichte ist völlig anders gestrickt als der andere und das Millieu ist schrecklich, in dem sie leben, jeder hat seine Vergangenheit, jeder etwas Schlimmes erlebt und man möge meinen, dass die meisten Menschen durch ihre Art und Weise auch unympathisch wirken könnten, aber nein. Das Gegenteil ist der Fall. Mir sind viele dieser Leute so unfassbar ans Herz gewachsen und ich hoffe sehr, dass dieses Buch mir noch lange in Erinnerung bleiben wird.

Geniale Handlung, geniale Charaktere, gute Sprache, die einen Wiedererkennungswert vorweist und ein Setting, das das Ganze richtig gut abrundet. Ein Diamant unter den Büchern!!

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sisters Marnie and Nelly bury their mom and dad in their backyard on Christmas Eve.  It's no great loss for the girls;  they've basically been on their own for years anyway thanks to the drugs and alcohol always in the apartment.  So when their parents die, they know they can't report it because they'll be separated.

Fifteen-year-old Marnie is street-wise and willing to do what it takes to keep her and her sister together.  Younger sister Nelly is quirky and naive to many situations but emotionally mature beyond her years.

Their elderly neighbor Lennie realizes the girls are on their own and takes them under his wing, helping as much as he can though he isn't certain where their parents have gone exactly.  It isn't uncommon for them to leave the girls for weeks at a time, but as months pass he begins to suspect this time they won't be returning.

Questions begin around the neighborhood as their dad's nosy drug dealer comes around to collect, the school becomes concerned with Nelly's absences, and their estranged grandpa shows up to make amends.

The Death of Bees was a surprising read for me.  The sisters are beautifully written characters, from Marnie's fierce protectiveness yet hardened emotions to Nelly's quirky eccentricities and heightened vulnerabilities.
I appreciated the honesty of their heartbreaking circumstances and frustrating failures of the system (school/welfare/social).

This book manages to be dark and hopeful at the same time, introducing us to three fascinating characters in alternating voices with a fascinating look at both the powerful bonds and failures of family and society.

I recommend The Death of Bees to readers who appreciate dark, contemporary coming-of-age stories with quirky well-developed characters.

For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com

[Radostina · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a strange book! It starts off kind of weird, and I must say I was initially hesitant whether I'd like it or not. It does make a showy opening--to introduce the girls as the author did was indeed a great idea --but it's also somewhat troublesome in terms of the overall message it conveys. Two adolescents having to actually bury their dead parents in their backyard to avoid being taken in by social services--and imagining they'd actually get away with it for as long as was necessary until they could legally take care of themselves! Is it feasible? Maybe so. Is it problematic? You bet on that--some might even call it mildly shocking. But it worked quite well as the story developed and the girls grew on me. I got to like them and to wish for their story to end well.

This is definitely not a happy read. It's depressing, hard to swallow, and yet so gripping one cannot stop reading; a tale of two young girls living through hell and trying to fight their way out of desperation and misery, trying to cope with all the hardships and ordeals life has in store for them, yet remaining strong, and most importantly--remaining together--and loyal to each other--as two sisters should be.

It's a sad but also hopeful story--a story of suffering and loss, but also of unexpected friendships and unlikely allies, which comes to show that not all good has gone from the world. And even if the ending of the book seemed somewhat naive, I loved every bit of it.

[Arie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems the main words I need to use describing The Death of Bees have been used in the creation of diet fads: raw, fresh, tough, organic. Others are less suited for eating: visceral, heart-wrenching, real.

The book is also strangely, remarkably hopeful. This is despite the grimness and gloom that begins with the premise and continues on, and on, and on - through Marnie's heartbreak and Nelly's anger and Lennie's constant loss.

Life throws everything it possibly can at these protagonists, and yet it's never quite unbelievable - and never quite too much to bear. The characters' voices are full of life, defiant, furious and curious and demanding, and I lost far too much sleep turning over just one more page, just one...

This is a book that demands a lot from its readers, each an every demand deserves to be met.

Most of all, this book demands to be read. Don't let it down. Please.

[সালমান হক · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dare you to read this book. And I am not going to Scotland. Ever!!

[Katharine]

Put this book down after 4 pages because of derogatory language that felt unnecessary. I knew I wouldn't be able to read the book without that impacting my enjoyment.

[Elizabeth La Lettrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...I know it sounds sick but right now we need all the deflection we can find, it's not easy hiding decomposing parents in your backyard."

This story begins with the impromptu burial of the parents of two young girls from Glasgow, by the girls themselves, in their own backyard. Little by little, the reader begins to see just how fucked up their lives have been under the parentage of their two addict parents. (I am going to allow myself to use curses here because it's one of those books. And frankly, if you're the type that is bothered by words such as fuck/shit/motherfucker, etc., maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't be reading a book about two young girls burying their parents in their backyard. Just saying.)

The book is narrated by three exceedingly interesting people:

Marnie: 15 year old, If it wasn't bad enough that 15 years old is stuck in that incredibly awkward, not a girl, not yet a woman (heller, Britney Spears!) age, Marnie had to grow up faster, being the older sibling with no responsible parentage. Unfortunately, as you may expect, this means Marnie has fallen into drugs, sex, all of the usual at a tender age. The events that lead to her parents' deaths just accelerate her sudden need to grow up long before her time. To do anything to hold it all together. She's incredibly smart and hey, anyone who has this kind of humor at such a young age intrigues me: "The lie made me laugh, but only a little, he was obviously a hypocrite, but he's also a Christian and it's kind of the same thing." The fragility of her narrating chapters is so heartbreaking, as the reader struggles to marry her innocence and her actions.

Nelly: Marnie's 12(?) year old sister, possibly autistic, and so incredibly proper, I love when a writer can accurately and convincingly take on the voice of a child like Nelly to tell a story, juxtaposing Marnie's and Nelly's versions of the events that take place in the story is enlightening to say the least. In a way, they're both old beyond their years. "He smells of talcum powder, is possessed of china cups and matching saucers. How I love to hold a teacup."

Lennie: the neighbor, Lennie has a tainted history of his own which causes him to be isolated from the rest of the society in which he lives. However, he can't help but notice these two girls living next door. Lennie is suffering from heartbreak of his own - Maybe they need each other?

I guess you can say this is a common story idea; the misfits making a family of their own. But O'Donnell writes the story in a refreshingly new and interesting way, that, despite its darkness, is seemingly beautiful. As Marnie and Nelly try to get by on their own, more and more people are starting to wonder just what happened to their parents. No matter how used to being alone they are, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep secrets.

[Watchingthewords · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my birthday last month Todd got me a subscription to Indiespensables from Powell’s Books in Oregon. Every six weeks I will get a first edition of a new book, signed by the author, in a specially designed slipcase, with extra prizes inside! Best present ever! My first installment was going to be The Death of Bees and was shipping on January 31st. Every day, starting on February 1st, like a little kid waiting for the toy they ordered with cereal box tops, I would run home and check the mailbox. I was excited about the book, I’m always excited about a book, but I have to admit that I was just as excited about the extra surprise gifts inside. I’m a sucker for that stuff, and it’s going to be a little like Christmas every six weeks, opening the box to see what Santa (or Powell’s) sent me this time. Finally it was here (it didn’t take 6-8 weeks, but it sure felt like it!). I ripped the box open the minute I walked in the door, finding a jar of organic honey, a tube of beeswax lip balm, an ARC for another book, and yes, the main attraction, The Death of Bees, signed, in a beautifully designed slipcover. I took care of those pesky little things that need doing, feeding the kids, walking the dog, helping with homework, and settled onto the couch with my new book. And there I stayed, engrossed, until I was done.

I’m not sure I’ve ever read a starker opening paragraph:

“Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved.”

The book, set in the slums of Glasgow, Scotland, tells the story of two sisters, Nelly and Marnie, and their struggle to stay together while hiding the death of their parents. Enter the ostracized neighbor Lennie, and it is a story of three people that need each other, a story of a family-formed vs a family-born. It is a dark tale, sometimes humorous, often horrific, but almost always sad. Parents don’t always do the best they can by their children, the “system” often fails those it is designed to protect, even the “good guys” are flawed, and the age of innocence never exists for some. It is a story of secrets, “I’m never getting a tattoo. My secrets are etched safely on the inside and I intend to keep them there.”, and a story of death, “I fear death. I have always feared death. It comes like a gale and never with permission. I would meet it again today.”. But ultimately The Death of Bees is a story of love, hope, and sacrifice.

[jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

after reading such glowing reviews for this book, i was positive i was going to experience a very complex, but worthwhile, story. so im not sure what went wrong, exactly. i just know this wasnt for me.

↠ 1 star

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite novel so far this year; it seemed as if it might be unbearably dark, but it turned out to be quite the opposite.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly don't know what to do with this book. It is morbidly weird and disturbing. The characters have so many flaws I am certain I can't find a redeeming quality and yet I find that the neediness of each of them is their endearing quality. Besides that, I simply don't know what to think.

Basic breakdown of the story is that Marnie, age 15 and Nelly, age 12 find themselves orphaned one day. Their father, whom they despised and it is strongly hinted that he liked his girls in an unnatural way, is dead in his bed. Each girl assumes the other did it. Their mother, Izzy, is broken and walks out to the shed and promptly hangs herself. This is revealed in the first five or six pages so I don't think I'm offering any spoilers here. But then it gets weirder. Rather than report their deaths and be put into social services custody, the simply hide the evidence in the garden. Of course, the detail to the decomposing bodies is beyond strange. I won't go there.

The goal is that they stay together. Marnie turns 16 in one year. She believes she can be entrusted with her odd sister, Nelly, who is carrying a boatload of baggage on her back but soothes herself with her little tantrums and her prodigy like playing of her violin. Marnie's issues are much more ingrained. She has self loathing and her behavior is stated very matter of fact. So much so that I nearly dropped the book on multiple occasions.

Meet Lennie, the convicted sex offender of elderly nature who is still mourning the death of his lover and lonely. He knows the girls have a gaping hole in their lives but it is not the sudden absence of their parents but the perpetual and historical absence of their self centered parents who had no business having children in the first place. And so begins an unlikely friendship.

And so it goes with the introduction of a few characters and the lies to mislead the drug dealers their parents owed money to but will not go away. A sudden appearance of a relative trying to make amends but simply doesn't have the personality for parenting. Jealous drug dealing spouses, sex here and there and a few other shocking acts. Meanwhile, Nelly remains perpetually and purposefully innocent. And yet. Able to think quickly when the dog suddenly digs up a limb from one of their shallow graves.

Throughout the book, more information is revealed regarding the parents and their own secrets, insecurities, and failings, along with the implicit understanding that one or two flawed friends have been constants and unfailing. When there are children at risk, those with an altruistic soul come through.

I don't know who I would recommend this book to. It has its good points. On the other hand, I am quite disappointed in myself for persevering through to the end. I want those thoughts out of my mind. I can see a foot under the table. Although that set the stage for a rather humorous exchange between two of the characters.

It is bizarre.

[Luanne Ollivier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eugene Doyle. Born 19 June 1972. Died 17 December 2010, aged thirty-eight. Isabel Ann Macdonald. Born 24 May 1974. Died 18 December 2010, aged thirty-six.

Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved."

The opening prologue of Lisa O'Donnell's book The Death of Bees hooked me right away. Aren't you wondering? Where can the story go after such a beginning? Well, O'Donnell takes it place I wouldn't have imagined......

Marnie and her sister Nelly live on a housing estate in Glasgow. With the death of their parents Marnie is determined to keep herself and the younger Nelly together. So she lies - if anyone asks, their parents have gone to Turkey for a bit. It's not that much of a stretch - the girls have been left to fend for themselves many times as Gene and Izzy drink, smoke and party their lives away. But, Lennie, the lonely old man next door does notice. He begins to help them, feeding them and providing a clean, warm place for them to stay. But the questions start coming from all sides - teachers, friends and more. And Lennie helps the girls by lying as well. Until......

The story is told in chapters alternating through the three main characters. The same events are seen very differently in some cases. O'Donnell's characters are wonderful. Marnie is tough, resilient, brilliant but tiring of holding it all together. Nelly is wounded in many ways and seeks solace in her own world, often speaking as though she's in an old movie. Lennie too, is wounded by the world, having endured his own hardships. But the three together are able to find pockets of happiness and joy together and - dare I say it - the family that each has been yearning for. Until.....

As I crept nearer to the end of the book, I accepted my fate - I was going to be up very late that night - there was no way I could possibly put it down without knowing the outcome. O'Donnell manipulates the reader magnificently. We are given subtle insights into the girls' past with each of their narratives that only intensifies the need to know more (and the rapid turning of just one more page) Their situation is appalling, but there is that little glimmer that maybe, just maybe it will be okay. (precipitating more rapid page turning)

I absolutely adored this book. Every year there a few books that stand out for me, ones that I immediately think of when someone says 'Can you recommend a good read? Definitely - The Death of Bees.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Humor

With a book such as “The Death of Bees”, a book centered on neglected, possibly abused kids, the death of their parents and the subsequent involvement of social services, there’s a danger of excessive sentimentality or sinicism. “The Death of Bees” avoids this and is genuinely comic at times. The two sisters, though eccentric—especially Nelly, the youngest, are quirky but still believable. They are surrounded by a mix of people who try to help, some almost altruistically, and those who prey on them. Marnie is 15 and Nelly 12. Their father was a drug dealer and almost definitely worse. Their mother was at best ineffective and self-centered. After the girls are left on their own two men enter their lives who want to help. Or do they? What are their true motives? This is almost too much for even the street wise Marnie to figure out.

O'Donnell writes is a screenwriter so I suppose it’s no surprise that she skillfully keeps the plot moving as well as several subplots. She engages her audience by making us want desperately for the two girls to survive and thrive. I loved her depictions of the tough Glasgow streets that crawl with wayward, desperate characters. There seem to be no responsible adults, only the clipboard bearing officials looking to force kids into a better life against their will. A very engaging story.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lullabies for Little Criminals meets The Cement Garden.
The horrible alcoholic parents of two young teenage girls die within a day of each other, one by the hand of his wife, and then the wife by her own hand out in the garden shed.
Their children have little sympathy for the deaths. Their life of neglect and abuse have toughened them, and they know that if the authorities become aware of the loss of their parents then they will be taken into 'care' by the social services, a highly undesirable result. So after being prompted by the smell and mess of progressive decomposition, they bury the dead in the garden. Under the lavender. It is a gruesomely funny scene.
The story is told in alternating voices of the two sisters and their old gay neighbour who becomes entwined in their lives. The voice of the older sister is convincing; she is teenagerly-tough and funny and still vulnerable. Other characters become interesting when they turn out differently from our preconceptions.
Despite the nature of the story, it's surprisingly light and funny. A good summer read.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hooked on this book from the very first page where Marnie tells that they buried their parents that day. And that neither were beloved! This book had humor and sadness throughout it. I thought it was a very touching story of two sisters that found more love and care from the neighbor than they ever did from their parents. I loved the characters and I enjoyed reading it from each ones point of view. This was an excellent read!