The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin – a Review

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Description:
Forty-four-year-old Alice Holtzman is stuck in a dead-end job, bereft of family, and now reeling from the unexpected death of her husband. Alice has begun having panic attacks whenever she thinks about how her life hasn’t turned out the way she dreamed. Even the beloved honeybees she raises in her spare time aren’t helping her feel better these days.

In the grip of a panic attack, she nearly collides with Jake–a troubled, paraplegic teenager with the tallest mohawk in Hood River County–while carrying 120,000 honeybees in the back of her pickup truck. Charmed by Jake’s sincere interest in her bees and seeking to rescue him from his toxic home life, Alice surprises herself by inviting Jake to her farm.

And then there’s Harry, a twenty-four-year-old with debilitating social anxiety who is desperate for work. When he applies to Alice’s ad for part-time farm help, he’s shocked to find himself hired. As an unexpected friendship blossoms among Alice, Jake, and Harry, a nefarious pesticide company moves to town, threatening the local honeybee population and illuminating deep-seated corruption in the community. The unlikely trio must unite for the sake of the bees–and in the process, they just might forge a new future for themselves.

Beautifully moving, warm, and uplifting, The Music of Bees is about the power of friendship, compassion in the face of loss, and finding the courage to start over (at any age) when things don’t turn out the way you expect.

Review:

The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin is a standalone heartwarming novel focusing on a beekeeper, and two flawed young charges she helps.  Alice Holtzman, our heroine in this story, is a bee keeper in her farm in Oregon, something she loves, as well as having responsible job working for the town planning.  Alice is still reeling over the loss of her beloved husband, and every time something reminds her of her husband, or his family, she has anxiety attacks.  On the way home from picking up bees, Alice suffers another anxiety attack, where she narrowly missed hitting a young man in a wheelchair.

Jake Stevenson is eighteen, and a paraplegic living at home with his mother and father (a nasty man).  He has the biggest mohawk, which is the only thing that keeps him active, but other then doing weights for upper body, he is very unhappy. Being frustrated, he pushes his wheelchair onto the road, and is almost hit by a truck driving by.  When Alice takes him to his house, she is met with the mother and father, who threatens Alice.  Jake, who is intrigued by Alice and the bees, decides to get away from his father and goes with Alice (to her surprise). In a short time, Jake will become obsessed with learning all about the bees, allowing him to find a purpose in his life.  Alice trains him, and automatically sees that he has a calling even more so than her, and becomes a lifesaver for her.  Alice still needs more help, hires another young man part time to is very good at building things in the house and in the bee hives.

Harry Stokes is 24 years old, and continues to run from place to place, until he finds his uncle living in a trailer.  When his uncle dies, Harry is desperate to make some money and a place to stay.  He is afraid of bees, but is able to build things to help on the farm, and he befriends Jake.

What follows is a story of three broken people, with anxiety and grieving issues, who in time bond together to help each other heal. Their friendship pits them to fight a bad pesticide company that is destroying the bee community in town; and together they will bring the whole town to fight.  I did like all of our three main characters, as well the wonderful secondary characters we meet along the way. I also enjoyed learning all about how the bees live, grow and survive.  I will say that early on, it was a bit slow, introducing our heroes, but the last half of the book was sensational.

The Music of Bees was very well written by Eileen Garvin.  This was a heartwarming, poignant, emotional story of friendship and healing.  I suggest you read this beautiful wonderful story.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher