Eileen Garvins debut novel captivated me from the very first page. Here is my book review The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin.

Life is a rollercoaster even during the best of times. But during the worst of times, it often seems like the hits just keep coming. And that is the case for the three main characters in this beautiful and uplifting novel.

First we meet Alice, a beekeeper in Hood River Oregon prone to panic attacks. She has endured the loss of her husband, her parents and the orchard she grew up on. She is a loaner who finds interacting with people stressful, and so has created “Alice Island” where she lives a nearly solitary beekeeper life. That is until the day she hits a boy in a wheelchair with her truck.

Here we meet Jake. A teenage paraplegic, whose bad decision showing off for a girl has put him in a wheelchair for life. His future is bleak as he navigates being stuck in the chair, in his childhood home with his loving but timid mom and bully father, and in a life with few options. That is until Alice nearly runs him over with her truck.

Then we meet Harry. A twenty-something year old, recently out of jail for playing a role in a crazy prank. Harry is a drift and comes to Hood River to live with his elderly and poverty stricken uncle in a dilapidated trailer in the woods. That is until the uncle passes away and Harry takes a job helping with the bees.

These three become unlikely friends, and even family, as they each navigate their individual grief and loneliness, together overcoming adversity, harassment, fear, and broken hearts.

It’s a beautiful story that includes fascinating insight into beekeeping as well as potential environmental chemical issues in today’s society. A great debut novel by local Oregon author. I hope you enjoyed my book review The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin.

*****Five Stars for The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin

Learn more about beekeeping here.

See last weeks review of Where the Forest Meets the Stars

My current read America’s First Daughter

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