The Beekeeper's Daughter

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This book had a lot of things that I really like in book. It went between different time frames to tell a story, there were unanswered questions, a war, and lost loves. How could I not like it? Evelyn scowled irritably. “No one is questioning her talent, Belle. It’s her mothering which is open to debate. Now, come on, who dealt?”

On a scale of one to five billion, how romantic was this novel? Five billion, without a doubt. Oh my goodness, book lovers, I finished The Beekeeper's Daughter by Santa Montefiore in the stupidly early hours of this morning, and I do not regret it one single bit, because it was absolutely incredible, and I freaking adored it.Is there a theme to each part of the book? Was this an effective way to tell the story? Why or why not? She is caught between what she should do and where her heart is leading her. It won't be an easy road ahead. I ended up liking Trixie way more than I thought I would at the onset of the story. She really matured as a character. I wish Jasper would have come to her on his own at the end tho instead of because "his wife left him." I don't know why that diminished their reunion to me but it did in a small way. The book was inspired by a swarm of bees that settled on the side of my cottage in Hampshire a few summers ago. I thought The Beekeeper’s Cottage sounded like a good title, so I began to weave a story around them. My daughter, when she was little, used to put bumblebees on her arm and let them walk up it—she never got stung, but it used to make me very nervous. I did a lot of research on bees. I was given a lovely book about them and used the Internet. I also bumped into a woman at my son’s football match, who happened to have been a beekeeper’s daughter during World War II. Quite a coincidence (or not! I like to think the universe was helping me out there!).

The whole town is talking about them, Evelyn. They’re handsome young British boys, and polite, too, I believe.” She smiled at the sour look on Evelyn’s face. “They’re spending the summer here at Joe Hornby’s place.” Protagonist, Annabel Taylor, a beekeeper’s daughter, grows up wild and carefree on the moors of Exmoor, England in a cottage on the landowner’s property of Gothelstone Estate in the late 1860s. She is becoming aware of supernatural abilities inherited from her late mother, a beautiful witch.

In 1930's Dorset, young Grace is leading a happy life with her father, the local Beekeeper. When he dies unexpectedly, Grace has to find her place in life. Is it with her childhood friend Freddie, or Rufus, the man she loves from afar? The Montefiores have two children, Lily and Sasha. They spend the week in London and the weekends at a house on her parents' estate at Dummer, Hampshire. ( From Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/7/2016 .) Are her Trixie’s parents right to be concerned about her relationship with Jasper? Do you think their affair is true love or a summer fling? Why is Grace so protective of her daughter’s heart? Oh, Evelyn!” Sally gasped, and placed her cigarette holder between her lips to disguise her smile. She didn’t want her friends to see her taking pleasure in the scandal. Joe hasn’t produced anything in fifty years!” said Sally. “He was a very mediocre musician in his day. Now he’s simply past it. Anyway, who’s bankrolling the project? Joe hasn’t got the money, for sure.”

Weighed down by memories, unaware of the secrets that bind them, mother and daughter now both search for lost love. To find what they are longing for they must confront the past and unravel the lies told long ago.

Customer reviews

What do you make of Big and her friendship with Grace? Does Big give Grace good advice? Discuss Big’s role in the lives of the Valentines. To a private concert they were giving in Cape Cod for a friend of Joe Hornby, who’s in the industry.” There are no unsightly road signs or traffic lights on Tekanasset, and the shops that thrive in the town are charming boutiques selling linen, gifts, pretty toiletries, and locally crafted lightship baskets and scrimshaw. It is a nostalgic, romantic place, but not unsophisticated. Famous writers, actors, and musicians from all over America escape the frenetic, polluted cities to breathe the fresh sea air and find inspiration in the beauty of the landscape, while wealthy businessmen leave the financial centers of the world to summer there with their families. Or anyone of any importance at all? He claims to know everybody. He’s an old boaster, that’s all,” said Blythe. The Beekeeper’s Daughter opens with Rudyard Kipling’s “The Bee-Boy’s Song.” Why do you think Santa Montefiore chose to begin the book with this poem? How does it relate to the story? Discuss how bees play a major role throughout the book.

Just like her mother, Beatrix Valentine- Trixie is enthusiastic and ambitious. But ever since she met Jasper, the band member, there is nothing but a life with him in her mind. Recently she had begun to sink more often into her former life. It was as if with the passing of the years her regrets grew stronger and her attachment to her memories more desperate. For the last twenty-odd years she had thrown herself into motherhood, but Trixie was growing up and soon she would move away, and Grace would be left alone with Freddie and the fragile remains of their marriage. Montefiore is married to writer and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. They were brought together by the historian Andrew Roberts, who thought "they would be absolutely perfect for each other because they were the only two people he knew who could remember the words to "Evita" by heart." She says of their marriage: Fast forward to 1973 and we meet Trixie, Grace's daughter. She meets a boy in a band and they fall in love, they are promising each other to be together forever.Weighed down by memories, unaware of the secrets that bind them, both mother and daughter are searching for lost love. To find what they are longing for they must confront the past, and unravel the lies told long ago. ( From the publisher.)