If you had a summer to read a book, The History of Bees probably wouldn’t be your first choice. It’s not every day that you’re pushed to read a historical encyclopedia about a domesticated insect.
But that’s not what this book is. And you should read it.
Maja Lunde’s The History of Bees is an elegant account of three fictional individuals and their intimately real lives. This deeply moving book situates itself in three different times and places yet manages to capture the same human emotions, motivations, and struggles.
William, a biologist seeking to impress his eldest son, attempts to develop a new model for a beehive. Set in 1852 England, you join him on his painful journey of introspection, balancing commitments to work and family, and creating a legacy that would bring honour to his descendants.
In 2007 United States, you witness George, an experienced beekeeper, trying to make a living while coming to terms with the realization that his son will not preserve the family’s ancestral beekeeping tradition. In addition to this emotional blow, George fights a gripping battle with the modern beekeeping industry. But every day seems darker, and you join him in learning how fragile human life truly is.
Tao, a mother in 2098 dystopian China, spends 12 hours a day pollinating fruit trees by hand. You feel her tears, hear her cries, and relate to her wanting a better future for her young son. Through her, you envision a life without bees.
Lunde treads softly between these three characters to send an urgent message. She paints how the lives of bees shape these three narratives. Hence, she illustrates how the extinction of bees would create a world that is simultaneously foreign while also intimately hostile to us.
Yes, this prediction may sound like a stretch. However, Lunde beautifully captures exactly why it’s not.
Our lives are nimbly woven into interdependence with the natural world. The saying often used after experiencing a loss is almost more applicable to bees: you don’t know the value of something until you lose it.
If the cover of the book alone does not mesmerize you — staccatoed, ghostly translucent bees scattered across an ethereal earth — then let the ocean of topics Lunde brings to life sweep you away. You’ll find everything from family, love, nostalgia, and coming-of-age to totalitarian governments, police states, a crumbling economy, and dystopian futures.
If you do read The History of Bees, be prepared to sweat from your eyes. While the book may sound unconventionally focused on bees from the title, at its core, it’s about humans — it’s about you and me.
I rarely ever get emotional while reading books, but I have a soft spot for families and their struggles. The theme of parents feeling as though they have failed their children pervades every chapter of the story. It truly makes you wonder what sacrifices your mother, father, or other dear ones have made for you.
This book will break you, change you, and make you realize that our planet can exist without us, but we quite literally cannot exist without it. Let Lunde show you how.
