Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo–until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain. On the way, Nuri is sustained by the knowledge that waiting for them is Mustafa, his cousin and business partner, who has started an apiary and is teaching fellow refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees.

As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all, they must journey to find each other again.

Moving, powerful, compassionate, and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit. It is the kind of book that reminds us of the power of storytelling.

---

I have an interesting feeling about this book. I didn’t like it but it was well written and it does have a message to pass on. There are migrants and they all have a story to tell. They are not always criminals or looking to get on the dole in a developed country. Some stories are sad, some tragic, some are tearjerkers. I can’t say I liked how many sad stories there were – dead kids, suffering parents, blinded mothers, hating husbands that dreams occasionally of murdering his wife, bees without wings and war-ridden zones. Add some rape to the mix and you have yourself a heavy book to read.

I found one thing redeeming which made me cry. (You’d think there would be a lot of things to make me cry, but the author desensitised me towards the tenth chapter). What made me cry was a lovely gesture by a Morroccan man who was co-habiting in London with Nuri and he bought him / his bumblebee a row of flowers. That made me cry.

The book has massively good reviews and I was so excited to finally get to read it and in the end, disappointment hit. As the expectations and what was delivered didn’t match. Jumping between past (life in Syria) and present (London) – the author does manage to go between the fright of being killed any moment for any reason to being upset that there was bureaucracy involved in becoming a refugee in England. The travels to safety were interesting but at the end of the day – it’s stuff we see on TV for a long time. he plight of refugees is a sad one, but this book failed to capture any of the emotion involved in, what must be, such a harrowing journey.

But the author decides it’s not enough. Let’s get some kids raped. Let’s get some PTSD. Let’s get the wife raped too. Let’s get the husband disgusted by his blind wife and several times thinking how he didn’t want her with him or dead or how easy it would be to kill her. Why are we rooting for the protagonist to succeed when he doesn’t even sound like a decent human?

About 13 million Syrians were forcibly displaced.
6.8 million Syrians have become refugees. There are over 30 million (32.5 according to UNHCR) refugees worldwide.

I would say skip the book. Go for a walk.