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Laline Paull

The Bees

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The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an ancient culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means death.
Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive’s survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw but her courage and strength are an asset. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect pollen. She also finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous.
But when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all—daring to challenge the Queen’s fertility—enemies abound, from the fearsome fertility police who enforce the strict social hierarchy to the high priestesses jealously wedded to power. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart, her society—and lead her to unthinkable deeds.
Thrilling, suspenseful and spectacularly imaginative, The Bees gives us a dazzling young heroine and will change forever the way you look at the world outside your window.
This book is currently unavailable
325 printed pages
Publication year
2014
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Impressions

  • Gabriella van der Steltshared an impression4 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    💀Spooky
    💡Learnt A Lot
    🚀Unputdownable

  • nitrushinashared an impression6 years ago
    👍Worth reading

  • Marina Zalashared an impression8 years ago
    👍Worth reading

Quotes

  • drgnnxhas quoted4 years ago
    The strong encouraged the weak and helped them, but as the daily casualties mounted, the Sage made the decision to break open emergency rations for those in dire need, then use vital energy to summon the Holy Chord and take the Hive Mind itself into trance.
  • drgnnxhas quoted4 years ago
    “Is there sickness in our hive?”

    “Of course not.” Sister Sage groomed her own antennae, as if from soiling contact. “But the Cluster permits nightmares, as a way of cleansing our minds. And as foragers must withstand more sights than most, you might well have fearsome fantasies.”
  • drgnnxhas quoted4 years ago
    To her astonishment, she heard the sanitation workers talking in low voices. She took her place and looked at them. They were smiling.

    “In the Dreaming,” one whispered. “We took back our tongues.”

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