📚Contemporary #HistoricalFiction Rosie’s #BookReview of The Beekeeper’s Daughter by Santa Montefiore #TuesdayBookBlog #BookX
The Beekeeper’s Daughter by Santa Montefiore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Beekeeper’s Daughter settles into a contemporary historical fiction genre. The story builds over three different time frames, however, most of the narrative hops back and forth between Dorset, England in the 1930s and a fictional island off the Massachusetts coastline during the 1970s.
It begins with teenager Trixie who has fallen in love with Jasper, a boy from a visiting English popular musical group. What happens between Trixie and Jasper is a sub theme through-out the book. Trixie’s mother Grace is a beekeeper and a keen gardener and much of the story revolves around her younger years in a small English village.
The story builds through Grace, her early friendship with a boy called Freddie and the life she now lives in America. There are tales of love and loss and through it all a wonderful sense of being there with the characters.
Later in the 1990s, Trixie travels to England and visits the village which held her family roots. Trixie seeks answers to long-kept secrets as well as an answer for herself.
I enjoyed escaping deeply into this story; gardening and bees are two of my favourite aspects of summer. It will be no surprise to my friends that I quickly read it in several long sittings.
Book Description:
A family rocked by tragedy, a love that lives through time, a story that will stay in your heart…
Dorset, 1933: Grace Hamblin is growing up on a beautiful rural estate. The only child of the beekeeper, she knows her place and her future – until her father dies unexpectedly and leaves her bereft and alone. Alone, that is, except for the man she loves, whom she knows she can never have.
Massachusetts, 1973: Grace’s beautiful, impetuous daughter Trixie Valentine is in love. Jasper is wild and romantic, a singer in a band on the brink of stardom. Then tragedy strikes and he must return to his home in England, promising to come back to Trixie one day, if only she will wait for him.
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…
