Age Group: Adults

Description:

From the once-beautiful streets of Aleppo to the cold uncertainty of a British bed-and-breakfast, Christy Lefteri's heart-stopping debut traces the journey of Nuri, a Syrian beekeeper, and his artist wife Afra as they flee a country torn apart by civil war. Before the bombs, Nuri tended bees with his cousin Mustafa, Afra painted, and their young son Sami played in the garden. Then the unthinkable happens: Sami is killed, Afra is blinded by trauma, and the apiaries lie destroyed. Carrying only memories and a thread of hope, the couple sets out across Turkey and Greece toward Mustafa, who is now teaching refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees. Moving fluidly between past, journey, and present, this Aspen Words Prize-winning novel is a deeply human portrait of marriage, grief, and resilience that quietly reshapes how readers see the word "refugee".