The Beekeeper's Promise

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This story was beautiful in its telling. From the characters to the setting, it had the ability to make the events real, to make the reader understand that we all possess strength, and that the future can be approached with joy no matter what we have faced when we have the courage to do so.

The setting of the French countryside was described eloquently, both during times of peace and times of war. The characters were ones that captured your heart. Eliane and Abi have more in common than their physical location. Each is or was a prisoner: Eliane of the Nazis; Abi of her former controlling husband Zac. This is the first time I’ve read Fiona Valpy’s work, but I expect that her name is one I’ll look for in the future. Highly recommended to all who are fans of the genre with the caveat that you just might suffer a book hangover after reading… There is so much need for mending broken hearts and healing, no matter what year a person lives in. In 2017, Abi, found herself working in France, where she starts mending her brokenness by connecting with a life of a young beekeeper from the late 1930's and through the war. Eliane's selfless love is tested throughout the story as she also experiences good and bad tides with the war and its tragic impacts on her drive to resist giving up. Abi's story was also intriguing and unexpected in many ways. The author used effective yet limited descriptions to convey her plight which worked well. However my favourite bits were about the honey bees. Although the bees were not a main focus of the story, they were a constant and the reader was brought into the parallels between Eliane's bees and her own experiences.

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The Beekeeper’s Promise is a WW2 novel by Fiona Valpy. Although the story is fiction, some of the places are real and the stories of the Resistance are real as is the massacre in Tulle. The story could easily have taken place and maybe it did in some country and small town. Fiona Valpy tells the story of Elaine and her family during the War and the story of Abi in the present time trying to recover from a car accident and an abusive marriage. The story is told in alternating chapters by Elaine from 1938 to 1944 and then the present 2017. Abi’s story is told all in 2017. This technique works wonderfully for this story. It keeps both stories going and combines the stories at the same time. Abi has many lessons to learn from the stories Sara Cortini tells her about Elaine and her family during WW2. She also learns many lessons from working for Sara and her husband for the summer. Abi is mesmerized by Eliane’s story. She is moved by the valor and courage shown by this woman and through that comes an understanding of knowing that “we are stronger than we think we are.” Abi awakens to her ability to be strong, to be able to enjoy the world that surrounds her, and to be the person she has always wanted to be. The telling of this story is done in two separate timelines and it worked so well, laying out what was going one around these two very different, in very different times, the present and the past. World Was II was a frightening time for those fighting and those left behind.

Thank you to Fiona Valpy, Lake Union Publishing, and Netgalley for the ARC. The Beekeeper’s Promise is available now! What I loved: The history and the setting were by far the best parts of these stories. Most of the characters were well developed especially Abi and Eliane. The descriptions of the bees still fascinate me as they are in depth and well researched...inspired by a love of nature that is evident throughout the book. It felt as if the author wrapped a spell of scents and herbs around the reader as we soak in the words and themes of the stories of these two lovely ladies. When Abi decides to take a job for the summer at a Chateau in France she is unprepared for the way that she falls in love with it and also the history attached to it, especially the story of Eliane the beekeeper who lived in the Mill House during the war. Eliane was a young girl when WWII broke out and she had just fallen in love with Matthieu, she lived at the Mill House with her family but worked up at the Chateau and had taken on the old kitchen garden and also became the beekeeper. Once the Nazis arrived life became very different and Matthieu had to go away and their trust became broken........how could she care for someone who appeared to be working for the Nazis against their own people! As the Nazis take over the Chateau Eliane finds herself becoming involved with the resistance but at what cost! These are bold, resilient women from different generations with two memorable stories to tell. The writing is smooth and absorbing, as the characters rebuild their lives after overcoming struggle and strife. The Beekeeper’s Promise is a mesmerizing, all-consuming, and tantalizing story. In 2017 reist Abi met een gebroken hart af naar Frankrijk, om daar met een vriendin een retraite te volgen. Maar haar vriendin laat haar al snel in de steek voor een nieuwe vlam en Abi vertrekt, waarna ze wordt opgepikt door Sara, die op Château Bellevue woont en werkt. Abi brengt haar zomer daar door en leert Elianes verhaal kennen, waardoor ze meteen een connectie met haar voelt.De wereld was niet meer zoals altijd. Het was tijd om te vechten voor de dingen die ertoe deden. Ze leefden samen met de vijand; het was tijd om te doen wat ze kon om zich daartegen te verzetten."

As the war wages on, year after year, Eliane, her family and friends find it more and more of a struggle to survive. Eliane, at the behest of her employer, the elderly Comte de Bellevue, plays her own part in the resistance movement. 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. The dual story line worked extremely well. Valpy managed to pace the two stories, interchanging the drama from one story to another. This gave me time to consider the things that were happening to each character, which helped me engage with their stories. I find stories that never take a breather with the emotional, the horror, the drama rather jarring to read. This balanced it perfectly. I really enjoyed this book. It invoked so many lovely images of summer, I could image myself sitting under the acacia tree by the river with Eliane and watching her bees busying around the cottage garden. This book, although a work of fiction, does contain some historical events that did happen during WWII.

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There seems to be an accidental habit for me to read a book that is about two different people living years apart. Reading about Abi was somewhat of an interruption for me, I was not as connected to her, and I just was glad she was also thinking about Eliane. Abi had a big healing journey in this particular 2017 summer. I was happy for her and somewhat relieved that she was becoming a stronger person as her summer went on. I thought I had read everything there is to read about WWII. But then I realized that there is at least one more aspect that I had not read about: living on the line of demarcation between occupied and free France. That is the location of this story and contains two alternating narratives 70 years apart. Over the course of the summer, Sara tells Abi the story of the woman who worked at the Château during WWII. Her name was Eliane Martin. I found The Beekeeper's Promise to be a mildly entertaining read, but the framing and the trite ending didn't work at all. Sara shares with Abi the history of the chateau and the history of the family who lived there during the German occupation in World War II. The narrative then is taken over by Elaine and shares her family story as they come to terms with just what occupation means for her, her family and their community.