The Music of Bees: A Novel

Written by Eileen Garvin

Narrated by Thérèse Plummer

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER!
A Good Morning America BUZZ PICK | A Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick | IndieNext Pick | LibraryReads Pick | Recommended by People ∙ The Washington Post ∙ Woman's World ∙ NY Post ∙ BookRiot ∙ Bookish ∙ Christian Science Monitor ∙ Nerd Daily ∙ The Tempest ∙ Midwestness ∙ The Coil ∙ Read It Forward ∙ and more!

“An exquisite debut that combines a moving tale of friendship with a fascinating primer on bees.”--People

“This heartwarming, uplifting story will make you want to call your own friends, not to mention grab some honey.”--Good Housekeeping

Three lonely strangers in a rural Oregon town, each working through grief and life's curveballs, are brought together by happenstance on a local honeybee farm where they find surprising friendship, healing--and maybe even a second chance--just when they least expect it.

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.

“A hopeful, uplifting story about the power of chosen family and newfound home and beginning again . . . but it’s the bees, with all their wonder and intricacy and intrigue, that make this story sing.”
--Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of This Is How It Always Is

"Eileen Garvin's debut novel is uplifting, funny, bold, and inspirational. The Music of Bees sings!"
--Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Audio
• Release date: Apr 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9780593344842

Eileen Garvin

Eileen Garvin is a writer and a beekeeper. Her memoir, How to be a Sister was published in 2010. She lives in Oregon with her husband, a dog, a cat and 60,000 honeybees.

Reviews for The Music of Bees

[mchwest · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I discovered this book on my TBR shelf when putting Eileen Garvins new book, CROW TALK, on there also. I immediately sat to read it and thoroughly enjoyed the plot and all characters. The inner workings of a bee hive could never get boring and made for a fast read.

[kittytm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book of found family, second chances, and yes, bees. An odd collection of people find each other- starting with a grieving widow and a despondant teenager. I found the characters believable, and the story engaging. There are some interesting twists and unexpected turns.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A nice story about a found family.
Jake is an 18 year old who has a tragic accident and is now a paraplegic. He still has the use of his hands, arms, and upper body. His high school gives him a diploma. His mother is a mouse against his verbally abusive father. Jake's father gets rid of Jake's dog Janie, he is just a mean man.
Alice is a widower and a 44 year old orphan. She works for the city, but doesn't own the orchard her parents had, perhaps because she never told them she wanted it. She is a beekeeper. She hits Jake in his wheelchair and after returning his lost backpack to him, she offers him room and board if he works for her.
Harry is an ex-con, 24. He is drifting and needs purpose.
Together, this threesome work through their issues and fight together to protect the bees.

[debs4jc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Multiple characters find their lives intersecting on an Oregon bee farm. Fate has caused a happy intersection that helps them get out of their own self-imposed exiles and unite over a shared interest in tending to the bees. I enjoyed the "found family" that resulted and the happy endings for the various characters, even if it was a bit over the top at times.

[shazjhb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Alice Jake and Harry suffer grief and loss. A fabulous story about bees and the environment

[berly_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not to be confused with [The Murmur of Bees], the [The Music of Bees] was awesome! I could not put this one down. It's springtime and my flowers are blooming and I loved learning about bees! Not to mention the three quirky, lovable, main characters. If you support keeping the earth healthy; want to cheer on someone coming to grips with new physical disabilities; hope that a young man can find his inner strength and voice; and want to follow someone not giving up her memories and love but letting go of grief, then this is the book for you! It's fun, touching and uplifting. Highly recommended. 5.0

[phyllis.shepherd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Who knew that beekeeping could be so fascinating? Set in the Hood River Valley of Oregon, near where I live, this book held a special interest for me. It is the story of three people whose lives come together at opportune times for all of them. Well-written debut novel, filled with endearing characters.

[carrieida-803117 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A heart-warming story of three people who started off as strangers who come see each other as family both in caring and learning from each other. The story centers on beekeeping and the way Ellen Gavin describes the details drew me in because I did not know anything about it and she tells it both in educational and enjoyable way. I found the character development an equal draw into the flow of the book.

[khoyt-43756 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am impressed with Eileen Garvin and her debut novel, "The Music of Bees". I knew she had to be a beekeeper to be able to put such depth, understanding, and respect for the honeybees in her story. I learned so much about beekeeping, the hives, the jobs of the different bees; I felt like I was there with Alice as she was talking to Jake. The whole story is an allegory for life. Flawed people can shine when in an environment of love and mutual respect. We must all work together and hold each other up. Progress is made when we realize what we want out of life and who we need to be to accomplish our goals. This book is truly inspirational and a great world-builder. Although God is not mentioned in the book, those with a Christian worldview can see His hand at work. I am looking forward to the next book by this new author!

[veronica.sparrow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Three strangers who need a new start in life are brought together through a bee farm. Alice is an older woman who has become a loner after the death of her husband and a series of heartbreaks. Harry is a young man with social anxiety who has made some very wrong decisions in his short life. Jake is a teen who life was upended when he became a paraplegic through a tragic accident.
I absolutely adored this book I found the gradual build up of the characters interesting and was fascinated by the amount of detail about the business of keeping bees. This is one of those books that are in turn fascinating, touching, and definitely gets you emotionally involved in the story.

[dianekeenoy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Such a feel good story and you learn a lot about bees as a bonus!

[romonko · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was enthralled with this book. Not only is it a great, heartwarming story with wonderful characters, but I learned about honeybees and their remarkable contribution to our world's plants, flowers and trees. The book is about a 40 something widow who happens to be a beekeeper. Alice had lost her husband a few years before this book opened. She lives on a little piece of land in rural Oregon. Her family and ancestors had been orchardists until her father sold their orchard when Alice was a teenager. She has a full time job with the County, but her passion is bees. Alice isn't doing very well mentally after her husband's death and has become a bit of a recluse. She finds she needs help to run her aviary, so puts an ad in the local paper for a part-time handyman. Due to an unfortunate accident that Alice has in her truck, she meets a young man, Jake, who is 18 and is in a wheelchair after he had an accident a year ago. They form a friendship, and Jake moves in with Alice "for a time" until he gets himself sorted and it gives him a chance to get away from his unhappy home life. The pair gains another misfit when Harry Stokes applies for the part-time worker position. Harry has had many problems in his life, and he is just trying to make a new start in life. He suffers from sever social anxiety and very low self-confidence. It's amazing to watch this motley crew each come out of their shell, and they form a lifetime friendship. Interspersed in all this, we learn a lot about bees and their way of life. I found the whole book a delight, right up to the big blowup with a big chemical company who is trying to get the orchardists in the county to use their chemical for spraying their trees. Alice loses a few hives due to the pesticide, and joins the fight of other environmentalists and beekeepers in the area to try to put a stop to the chemical company being able to get a license for spraying in their county. All turns out great in the end, and this unusual group remain together and become like family to each other. It was a delightful and moving story of grief, love, friendship and bonding and one that I heartily recommend to anyone who enjoys this kind of wholesome fiction. And you might learn some very valuable things about our friends the honeybees. Thank you SweetReads for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

[brangwinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First off, let me say that I always root for the underdog, so I found the perfect book. Alice Holtzman’s dream is to be a successful beekeeper. She has kept the job she hated at the Hood River, Oregon planning department, but that is not her end goal. She is a widow. When a young paraplegic ends up moving in with her to escape his abusive father, she does not realize she has found the perfect partner in her beekeeping empire sitting in a wheelchair. It does not stop there, she ends up hiring another lost soul to help her build brood boxes and he ends up living with Jake and Alice. A pesticide company trying to sell pesticides which kill bees to the surrounding orchard owners, adds some structure to the story as they battle to keep it out, but basically it is a book about three lost souls who band together. Along the way, the reader will learn about bee keeping.

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Are you looking for your next feel good read? Looking to escape Covid for a little while and disappear inside an book? Look no further than Eileen Garvin's just released debut novel, The Music of Bees.

Alice has withdrawn from friends, family, neighbours and more following a series of heartbreaks. She goes to work and then goes straight home. She is alone except for her beloved bees. "Alice kept certain thoughts behind a firmly closed door in her mind..."

She literally runs into eighteen year old Jake one evening - and knocks him out of his wheelchair. Jake too has withdrawn from his friends, interests and his dysfunctional family. "He hated what he had done to his stupid life and that he had no one else to blame. He was broken in a way that could not be undone."

Harry has been living with his great uncle in a condemned trailer, hiding from his past, his parents and any social interactions. "Harry, stuck as he was between the recent debacle of his past and the uncertainty of his future, was happy to pause here, suspended between what he had done and what he might make of himself."

Three people that have no idea how to fix themselves - but maybe together they can find a way.

Alice's beehives touch each character in a different way and become the propolis that cements their friendships. What is propolis you ask? Well, it's "glue-like material is used by bees to build their hives and fix any cracks and tears and also creates an even and hard surface inside the beehive." I learned that and much more about bees, hive life etc. in The Music of Bees. It was only on finishing the book and reading the author's bio that I discovered Garvin is a beekeeper herself. Her knowledge and love of bees certainly shows in her descriptions and settings. Take the time to read the bee quotes at the beginning of every chapter - they directly tie into what's happening with Alice, Jake and Harry.

All three characters are so wonderfully drawn and the reader can't help but feel their pain and hope that they can heal and go forward. There are antagonists as well - some particularly nasty co-workers for Alice and a "nefarious pesticide company".

Having a friend is the start and from there goals, a purpose, courage, happiness and yes, even love seems possible again for each of the three. The Music of Bees is uplifting, heartbreaking and heartwarming. An excellent read - and especially now.

[samsattler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although Eileen Garvin published her memoir How to Be a Sister (intriguing title, that) in 2010, the soon-to-be-published The Music of Bees marks her debut as a novelist. Part of what makes this new novel so much fun to read is the rather painless education about bees and beekeepers that the reader acquires along the way. Garvin, who is herself an Oregon beekeeper in addition to being a writer, skillfully makes it all seem simple right up until the point the reader comes to realize just how complicated beekeeping actually is, and how terribly important bees and their keepers are to the environment and the food chain.

The Music of Bees is a story about three loners, two of whom have become loners pretty much by choice, and another who had the lifestyle forced upon him after an accident put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Alice Holtzman is a 44-year-old county employee who enjoys keeping bees so much that over the next year she wants to double the number of hives she has. She is in the process of doing just that, transporting some 120,000 bees home in the back of her truck, when she almost literally runs into Jake, the 18-year old in the wheelchair. Jake is rather foolishly tooling down the side of the highway in his chair at dusk when Alice runs him off the road. When the smoke clears, Jake is so intrigued by Alice and how she is able to entice almost all the bees back into their proper containers, that a new friendship is born. Harry is a 24-year-old running from his past who moves west to live in a dilapidated trailer with his reclusive uncle. After spotting Alice’s help-wanted ad, he responds, and the unlikely trio soon find themselves not only working together, but living together.

All three have things in their recent past they regret, and all three of them have withdrawn into themselves in the mistaken belief that they will heal their wounds that way. What they end up learning is that they are much stronger together than they are separately. More importantly, though, the bond they form is such a strong one that each of them begins to come back to life - and when the well-being of their bees and new way of life are threatened, they are willing to fight back as one, no matter what it takes or what the personal repercussions may be for any one of them.

Bottom Line: The Music of Bees is a beautiful story about empathy, friendship, and personal restoration. At its heart it is a basic story of good versus evil, and how sometimes the least powerful among us can beat the odds just long enough to win the battle - oh, and all of that beekeeping knowledge that seeps in along the way is a special bonus readers are sure to enjoy.

Review Copy provided by Publisher

[mrsmommybooknerd7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

#FirstLine - Jacob Stevenson had the tallest mohawk in the history of Hood River Valley High School.

I love this story so much. It is amazing that this is a debut because it reads like Garvin has always been here writing amazing stories. This story was so original. I have never read anything like it and that is what I loved most about it. It was one of those stories that you cannot help but read quickly, devouring every word, every detail of the story. You will not soon forget this book because of the setting, characters and beautiful cadence of the book. A must read debut author and one to watch!