Very good.
Quite simply, Christy Lefteri’s “The Beekeeper of Aleppo” is one of those books you should read; not just because it is well-written, but because of the subject matter. As an ex-NGO in a Greek refugee camp in Athens, filled with asylum seekers from various nations, Lefteri knows what she’s talking about – and the subject is an important one. The books peels away the prejudice and jingoist claptrap often peddled about the displaced from Syria and the like, and exposes the agonies some of these poor people go through.
And not only their trauma, but the sheer vile nastiness other humans are happy to inflict on them, to manipulate them and take advantage.
But the novel is also to a degree about hope, about opportunity, about looking into a future knowing it can be better. The importance of believing so, and of not letting go.
And in these strange times, maybe that’s relevant for all of us.
Ian Gouge - Writer 