![]() ![]() Blessed with remarkable tenacity, she makes a name for herself, bringing home copious amounts of nectar and pollen, whatever the weather. But it’s not until she takes on the role of forager that her true calling emerges. She then proceeds to defend the hive against intruders, ward off unwanted advances from the local drones and even spend special time with The Queen. Following her initial duties as a cleaner, Flora goes on to work in the nursery, feeding larval bees the royal jelly and bee bread they need to grow into healthy adults. Starting with Flora’s emergence as an adult worker, the author take us on a wide ranging tour of hive life. Unfortunately, the story didn’t give me the dramatic buzz I was looking for. As an avid beekeeper, my anticipation was high. Teeming with literary flourishes aplenty, Flora’s heroic adventures are chronicled in The Bees, by British novelist Laline Paull. Calling on her hidden potential and bravely asserting herself despite remarkable adversity, she may well hold the secret to the hive’s survival. But Flora is not as simple as she appears. A humble sanitation worker in a struggling honey bee hive in the last remnant of dwindling countryside on the edge of the suburbs, she’s one of tens of thousands of sisters all working to support The Queen and her entourage, as well as dozens of lazy, arrogant drones. ![]()
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