The Beekeeper’s Promise book review
The Beekeeper's Promise by Fiona Valpy Published by Brilliance Audio on May 16, 2018
Goodreads
Heartbroken and hoping for a new start, Abi Howes takes a summer job in rural France at the Château Bellevue. The old château echoes with voices from the past, and soon Abi finds herself drawn to one remarkable woman’s story, a story that could change the course of her summer—and her life.
In 1938, Eliane Martin tends beehives in the garden of the beautiful Château Bellevue. In its shadow she meets Mathieu Dubosq and falls in love for the first time, daring to hope that a happy future awaits. But France’s eastern border is darkening under the clouds of war, and history has other plans for Eliane…
When she is separated from Mathieu in the chaos of German occupation, Eliane makes the dangerous decision to join the Resistance and fight for France’s liberty. But with no end to the war in sight, her loyalty to Mathieu is severely tested.
From the bestselling author of, Sea of Memories comes the story of two remarkable women, generations apart, who must use adversity to their advantage and find the resilience deep within.
The Beekeeper’s Promise follows the story of two women from very different time periods and I loved that, this book definitely has some romance elements in there but check out my review of All the Things We Never Said for something different. I loved the fact that the story jumps from person to person and that the chapters were short. I am a huge fan of historical fiction but sometimes the story can be quite long and over wrung with a lot of unnecessary detail. This book didn’t fall into that trap I am very pleased to say, I think having the two time lines running next to each other meant that there was a short break between all the detail which was refreshing. I also just really loved the characters and what they meant to the story.
The characters are what really make this book. I think Eliane is my favourite I love the fact that she knows it’s okay to be frightened but rises above it. I think her courage all the way through The Beekeeper’s Promise is something to be admired. I love hearing her point of view on everything the way she saw her part in the war and why she was so keen to help the resistance. I wasn’t as keen on Abi’s side of things I thought that everything that she had gone through was traumatic but I just wasn’t connected with her and didn’t really care if I’m completely honest. I was waiting for her parts to be over so I could finish hearing about Eliane and her family.
I think learning about beekeeping was a huge part of The Beekeeper’s Promise, I loved hearing about the ways that they communicated and also about their resilience to thrive in even the worst of conditions. To be honest any part in which we learnt more about Eliane’s life and family was a favourite for me. I think she was such a lovely well rounded character that really drove this story forward with her perseverance. I just wanted to learn more about her and her life. I wished we could have swapped the Abi bits for more Eliane but I suppose it was a good way of showing how time had moved forward and changed.
I know I have been moaning about Abi’s bits but I don’t think I would actually call them a worst bit, yes they weren’t my favourite but I can understand why they are a part of The Beekeeper’s Promise. I think my only real complaint would be that the time jumps were a little confusing at times and I found myself having to skip backwards and forwards a little to figure it out. But that didn’t ruin my enjoyment of this book one bit.
I would recommend The Beekeeper’s Promise in a heartbeat. It is such a lovely well rounded story with some really great characters. I loved how much I learnt and how great I thought this story was.
What have been some of your favourite historical fiction books this year? Let me know in the comments!
