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A review by philippakmoore
Here Is the Beehive by Sarah Crossan
4.0
A compelling, original novel told in an unusual way - in verse which is not quite prose, not quite poetry, not quite stream-of-consciousness. But it worked!
The premise intrigued me from the start - Ana is a (married) lawyer who starts an affair with one of her (also married) clients, Connor. This goes on for about three years, full of all the tension and toxicity you'd expect an affair of that length to contain. But then Connor dies suddenly, and Ana has to find a way to grieve him and also keep their secret. As you would expect, it's not a simple task and everything begins to, shall we say, unravel.
I couldn't describe it as a love story, in the slightest. The relationship is toxic and obsessive - and that plays out in Ana's attempts to negotiate her grief in the aftermath too. There are so many people whose lives hang in the balance - not just Ana and Connor's spouses, but their young children too. It's quite the tangled web, and makes for bleak reading at times. If there was ever a novel to put you off adultery, this might be it!
Immersive and gripping, Here Is The Beehive is a reminder of the destructive powers of lust and deceit, and the necessity of facing uncomfortable truths about ourselves and the people we love. Sometimes the hardest grief to bear is the loss of ourselves, who we once were or thought we were, and what could have been.
With thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.
The premise intrigued me from the start - Ana is a (married) lawyer who starts an affair with one of her (also married) clients, Connor. This goes on for about three years, full of all the tension and toxicity you'd expect an affair of that length to contain. But then Connor dies suddenly, and Ana has to find a way to grieve him and also keep their secret. As you would expect, it's not a simple task and everything begins to, shall we say, unravel.
I couldn't describe it as a love story, in the slightest. The relationship is toxic and obsessive - and that plays out in Ana's attempts to negotiate her grief in the aftermath too. There are so many people whose lives hang in the balance - not just Ana and Connor's spouses, but their young children too. It's quite the tangled web, and makes for bleak reading at times. If there was ever a novel to put you off adultery, this might be it!
Immersive and gripping, Here Is The Beehive is a reminder of the destructive powers of lust and deceit, and the necessity of facing uncomfortable truths about ourselves and the people we love. Sometimes the hardest grief to bear is the loss of ourselves, who we once were or thought we were, and what could have been.
With thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.