The Beekeeper of Aleppo

by Christy Lefteri

I will never forget the silence, that deep, never-ending silence. Without the clouds of bees above the field, we were faced with a stillness of light and sky. In that moment, as I stood at the edge of the field where the sun was slanting across the ruined hives, I had a feeling of emptiness, a quiet nothingness that entered me every time I inhaled.

She had nothing to smile about. It would have been better to wish for this war to end. But I needed something to hold on to, and if she smiled, if by some miracle she smiled, it would have felt like finding water in the desert.

And then her breathing was soft and she was asleep – as if this black hole was the only place she felt safe. Where inner darkness met outer darkness.

was where I met Mohammed.

I like the way the author uses a word to transport the readers back and forth between past and present.

People are not like bees. We do not work together, we have no real sense of a greater good – I’ve come to realise this now.

But I am no longer worthy of her, or her forgiveness.

Yuanfen was a mysterious force that causes two lives to cross paths in a meaningful way.

‘Have you ever killed anyone?’ ‘No.’

I didn’t want to be awake in this world – my dreams were better than reality, and I think Afra felt the same, because she didn’t move to get up until I did.