The Bees

Laline Paull

'[A] gripping Cinderella/Arthurian tale with lush Keatsian adjectives' Margaret Atwood, via Twitter

'Beautifully written and unusual ... Captivating ... A brave and original story that highlights our modern environmental crimes, and offers a fascinating glimpse into the intricacies of bee world ... Any book that changes the way we see our world surely deserves to be a success' Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times

'Ambitious and bold ... told with such rapturously attentive imagination ... The tale zooms along with such propulsive and addictive prose ... Few novels create such a singular reading experience. The buzz you will hear surrounding this book and its astonishing author is utterly deserved' New York Times

'One wild ride. A sensual, visceral mini-epic about timeless rituals and modern environmental disaster. Paull's heartpounding novel wrenches us into a new world' Emma Donoghue

'This unusual and cunningly imagined thriller hurtles us through the very bizarre life and adventures of Flora 717 ... Strangely thought-provoking' Angus Clarke, The Times

'A rich, strange book, utterly convincing in its portrayal of the mindset of a bee and a hive. I finished it feeling I knew exactly how bees think and live. This is what sets us humans apart from other animals, that our imagination can allow us to create a complete, believable world so different from our own' Tracy Chevalier

'It is the best novel of its kind since "Watership Down". All the tension of a palace intrigue and the heart of a small, undaunted hero. An astonishing achievement' Martin Cruz Smith

'What Laline Paull has accomplished here is multivalent: a rumination on nature; a portrait of the struggle between individual and the stifling matrix of society; and a depiction of how humanity might organize itself along different lines. I'd call it, in the end, science fiction at its best.' Paul Di Filippo, Locus