“The Beekeeper of Aleppo” is a heart-wrenching novel that explores the harrowing journey of Nuri Ibrahim, a passionate beekeeper in the war-torn city of Aleppo, and his wife Afra, a blind woman deeply devastated by the loss of their son Sami in a bomb explosion near their garden.

Initially, we witness the success of Nuri and his cousin Mustafa’s beekeeping business amid Syria’s political tension However, the sudden escalation of political tension in Syria plunges their lives into turmoil. Mustafa’s decision to leave for England with his family becomes irrefutable when their precious apiaries are reduced to ashes by vandals. Nuri remains behind due to Afra’s determination to stay close to the place where their son perished. Eventually, the escalating danger convinces Afra to leave, and this marks the beginning of their arduous journey to the Old Continent.

The novel meticulously explores their traumatic journey to the Old Continent, delving deep into the psychological struggles they endure. The experience shatters their certainties and leaves them adrift in a seemingly indifferent world. Their journey mirrors the plight of countless migrants who risk their lives seeking safety and a new beginning. From the Turkish border to a treacherous boat journey to Greece, the narrative evokes feelings of compassion and injustice as we witness the migrants’ ordeal, enduring dangerous sea crossings and desolate refugee camps. While this novel offers a hopeful ending, it serves as a stark reminder of the many lives lost and dreams shattered along similar journeys.

The book’s message resonates deeply: it implores us to embrace our shared humanity, be more empathetic, and take action to foster serenity in a world where everyone deserves a decent life.
This powerful book left me deeply moved and that is the reason I wholeheartedly recommend “The Beekeeper of Aleppo” with a rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Its compelling narrative, powerful themes, and well-drawn characters make it a must-read that will linger in your thoughts long after the final page.

Nuri and Afra take a most difficult journey to escape the conflict in Syria and endure tremendous losses along the way. Their will to continue, push through the grief of losing their home and their child, was inspiring along with being so heartbreaking. The story made me so aware of how much we often take for granted, not having experienced what this couple did.

While the formatting took some getting used to, once I did, it was a smooth read, even though it was an emotional read.

It was good to get such an intimate and powerful look at what it means to be a refugee, and I appreciated the lessons on life in Syria, as well as the process of applying for asylum.

This is not an easy read, emotionally, but an important one.

Well, that was awful. Not the writing. Just everything these poor people went through. Nuri and his wife, Afra, are escaping war-torn Syria. Told before, during, and after their journey to England, this book is completely heartbreaking. At times almost unbearable to read. I was definitely a little alarmed by the amount of times Nuri mentioned killing his wife. Out of love and compassion, but still. Yikes! People don't want to be refugees. They don't want to leave the only place they've ever known, their families, their friends, their jobs. They don't want to appear unannounced in a foreign country they know next to nothing about, who doesn't want them. This is literally their last chance at life. These people should be embraced and taken care of. They deserve sympathy and compassion.

An extremely emotional read. I stopped reading several times because my heart was breaking into a million pieces. The beautiful writing only enhanced the characters along with the narrative. Nuri and Afra will linger with me forever as well as others mentioned. Hats off to Lefteri for writing such a profoundly moving story which seems far more nonfiction than fiction. War is ugly and the immigrant plight is affecting and visceral. This book is a must-read despite its sadness. Beyond touching evoking empathy and sympathy. This book is etched in my mind and heart infinitely.

Wow. I just finished reading this novel, which took me longer than usual to read. That's because it's gut-wrenching, and I had to read it a chapter or two at a time.

This beautifully written book will stay with you. Sure, we've all read about the treks made by the Syrian refugees in order to find peace and safety in other countries -- much like other refugees continue to flee their countries today in search of the same -- but this book vividly brings the characters, and their hopes, fears and experiences, to life in a way that every one of us can relate to.

Read this book. And when it gets hard to continue -- which it will -- don't give up. While the story will haunt you, it will also give you an appreciation of how good you may have it and how much suffering others will go through in order to have the things we take for granted.

Could not put this down; it was captivating, heartwrenching. Definitely one that stuck with me long after I had finished it.

I've found that one of the experiences that gets neglected in our society is that of the refugee. There are so many tragedies that go unreported because their stories just aren't lifted up by the media or in the arts. I was completely drawn in by the plight of Nuri and his wife, Afra, who end up fleeing Syria after it is decimated by war (but not before their family has been utterly destroyed by loss). They end up making it to the UK (where the book actually begins) but their journey is described through flashbacks to happier times in Aleppo, as well as their treacherous trek to make it to safety.

While this book is extremely difficult to read, it truly made me appreciate how lucky I've been in my life and how much more respect and compassion we should be having for refugees. At times, the story felt a little disjointed jumping between time periods and there were a few details that I felt needed a little more clarifying. But overall, Lefteri has crafted a story that perfectly encapsulates the refugee experience and the havoc it can wreak on mental health and the spirit. I also applaud her for her realistic portrayals of both the impacts of trauma and of PTSD. I feel honored to have been introduced to these characters who have survived the unimaginable (holding space for so many real-life people who have endured the same).

The Beekeeper of Aleppo tells the story of Nuri, a beekeeper, and his artist wife Afra who lose their son in war and have to escape to safety in Britain.

This story was a beautifully written and moving story. Although this is fiction, it almost reads as non-fiction. Narrated by Nuri, we are transported on their journey and made to feel all the emotions that they would have felt had this been a true story.

Christy Lefteri is a talented author and I look forward to reading more by here. Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Trigger Warnings: PTSD, flashbacks, death of a child, violence, allusion to rape

I won a copy of The Beekeeper of Aleppo in a Goodreads giveaway last year, but with the grief of 2020 fresh in my mind, I couldn’t bring myself to start it. This year, I decided to use it for Prompt 12 of the 52 Book Club Challenge: Set on at Least Two Continents. Before I ever started reading, I knew this book would be sad. Given its focus on the destruction of Syria and the refugee crisis, how could it be anything less? But “sad” doesn’t even begin to describe the depths to which this book can plunge. Profound loss sits at the center of this book. Nuri, our narrator, and his blinded wife, Afra, have left Syria after the death of their young son, Sami. The book traces their journey from Syria through refugee camps to Athens and finally to England, where Nuri’s cousin hopefully awaits.

There are three main points on the winding timeline of this book. The book begins in the middle of the journey where Nuri and Afra are slowly, painstakingly making their way to the safety and security of England. There are several stops along this journey and through Nuri’s eyes, we meet many people along the way, including the young boy Mohammed, who reminds Nuri of his own son. We have the before, where Nuri remembers his life in Syria as a beekeeper, before Daesh (ISIS) destroyed his city. He lived on a hill that overlooked the city of Aleppo and often worked with his cousin, Mustafa, who was more like a brother than a cousin. He and Afra had a young and inquisitive son, Sami. Life was full of hard work, but it was also full of joy and love. Sprinkled in with both of the other parts of this narrative comes glimpses of the after, where we know that Nuri and Afra have indeed made it to their destination.

Early in the novel Nuri finds a wingless bumblebee stuck in a concrete courtyard. He cares for it as best he can, but knows that in its deformed state, it will not live for long. The bee symbolizes Nuri and Afra’s grief and its physical manifestations. For Nuri these are debilitating flashbacks that leave him often awaking in strange places. For Afra, her pain manifests in blindness after the bomb that took her son’s life. The last thing she saw was the light leaving her son’s eyes. How could she ever look at anything else again, knowing she would never again see her son? With some carefully arranged flowers and a safe enclosure, the bee learns to adapt to its disability and its new home. Is the same possible for Nuri and Afra?

This book took me by the throat and punched me in the gut. It was difficult to read such immense and overwhelming grief, especially when the grief was both roaring and muted. Nuri and Afra are each lost in their grief and thus are lost to one another. This is where the broken timeline helps to keep infusing life and hope into a situation that seems so devoid of both. Lefteri ingeniously weaves the threads of the story together to provide just enough light that we are not completely lost in the darkness of Nuri and Afra’s new world.

It’s hard to read books about refugee experiences, about their journeys from their beloved homes, about their loss that is so often beyond human words. Still, we should not turn away from these stories. For thousands they are the truth. And for thousands more they are the story that unfortunately never came, that got cut short by bullet or bomb. The author wrote this novel after experience working with refugees in Athens, and it is evident that those she encountered had a lasting impact on her heart and her life. So often we focus on the legality of immigration and do not stop to think of the anguish of those who are forced to leave their homes or die in them. Like the wingless bee, so many refugees depend upon the kindness and help of strangers for survival and for the hope of a future, for the greater good of us all.

What a heartbreaking saga. You can’t begin this book and not finish it. I loved it for the beautiful descriptions of the bees. It reminded me of American Dirt in that it shone a light on the plight of refugees. Very well written from beginning until end.

A heartbreaking but beautifully written novel about two Syrian refugees (whose young son died) trying to make their way to England. The book, told from the perspective of Nuri, alternates between the present, when he and his wife are newly arrived in England, and flashbacks, mostly about their arduous journey to get there as well as a few about his earlier life. The writing was just amazing, with a touch of almost magic realism born of tragedy.

Like American Dirt or Alan Gratz’s middle grade book Refugee, this is one of those books I wish hard-line anti-immigrant politicians and others would have to read - I don’t know how you could be against refugees/asylum seekers/undocumented immigrants when you see their humanity and the awful things that lead them to leave their countries in novels such as these.

4.25 stars.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo hurt my heart. We’ve all seen pictures of the war in Syria but this book gets up close and personal with just one story. The beekeeper is Nuri and his wife Afra is an artist. They don’t want to leave the country they love but after a traumatic personal event Nuri knows they must leave even though that event has rendered Afra blind. The only thing that keeps them going is knowing that Nuri’s cousin Mustafa is waiting on the other side after his own harrowing escape.

This story is their journey. It is heartbreaking, realistic and puts faces to the refugees. It would make a great book club read and I wish I would have gotten to it sooner. As a side note, I have a new appreciation for bees. Who knew they could be loved so much by their beekeepers?

A good book - the story was interesting, but I was just not a fan of the writing. I love reading books about different parts of the world - especially cultures portrayed with pre and post war effects. The characters & their plight were very touching - it rings so close to the truth of many living through atrocities in Syria still today!

Nuri was a beekeeper in Aleppo, Syria, living with his artist wife, Afra. The couple suffers an unbearable loss of a child, the trauma causing Afra's blindness. Prior to the war, they’d lived a happy life among friends and family, relishing the most simplest of pleasures, surrounded by family.

This book gives names to the faceless Syrians refugees we see on our screens. It is a horrifying glimpse into the refugee and asylum crisis, bearing witness to the challenges and heartbreak one such family experiences as they try to flee to safety. Definitely a an eye opening book into the plight of many Syrian immigrants.

Haunting story of a grieving Syrian refugee family. Lefteri does a good job of pulling the reader into flashbacks with a unique style. The plot is not very plot heavy, but she adeptly reveals more about the family and their circumstances bit by bit. 3.5 stars.
I received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

One of the best reads of the year! I'm really glad I got to read this - this book actually came to me again when I was a first reader of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and it WON! Such a beautiful novel. My husband is Syrian, so I found this read to be informative and enlightening.

Beautifully written story that captures your attention from the start and never lets it go. The story is both heartbreaking and full of love. The reader experiences a vivid picture of the refugee crisis in Syria and beyond, the love of a mother, the grief of a family's loss, and what it means to be blind. The idea of blindness (physical, racial, ignorant, and veiled by love) is woven throughout the book.

Wow. This one is a must read and so important for learning about the experiences of the immigrants seeking asylum. Lefteri has written an outstanding book bringing into focus what life is like for these refugees without ever being preachy about it. Lefteri has worked with refugees and spent time asking their stories in helping her to write this book and develop this story. One member of my book group has a son who has worked in Cypress with refugees, and she said this book rang true compared to what her son has told her. This beautifully written book had a lot of depth. Lefteri deftly develops the story to reveal information about the characters, and my heart just ached for these terrific characters. As depressing as the book could be, it ended on a note of hope. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book for review.

My Rating: 5 Stars

In Christy Lefteri's sophomore novel, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, the author introduces readers to Syrian refugee and former beekeeper Nuri Ibrahim as he waits in England with his wife, Afra, to find out if they'll be granted asylum. Nuri's first-person narration relays what their lives are currently like, and through flashbacks readers are told Nuri's life story – about his boyhood in Syria, his partnership with his cousin Mustafa in a bee-raising enterprise, his experience of war in his homeland, and finally the difficult and harrowing journey to safety. Nuri's recollections proceed more or less chronologically, with the majority focusing on the challenges the couple faced trying to get to England; in particular Nuri recounts the appalling experiences he and Afra, like many, endured while waiting (with little hope of relief) in Greek refugee camps en route to Western Europe.

First-person narrative can be difficult to pull off effectively, since it can limit a story to one perspective, thereby making it feel one-sided. Lefteri neatly bypasses this trap by having her protagonist tell readers about the people he's met in his travels, most of whom are likewise fleeing their homes (but for widely differing reasons) and who experience being refugees in distinct ways. Thus, Nuri's in-depth account of his own life is complemented by snippets of others' experiences, creating a more nuanced picture.

The author deftly integrates these accounts with the main plotline, keeping them from feeling like stand-alone short stories. For example, while waiting for assistance in traveling to England at a refugee camp in Athens, Nuri hears music and finds a man playing a stringed instrument called a rebab. Upon being approached, the man first tells Nuri he left Afghanistan because the Taliban forbade his music, but later reveals he had been forced to join the Ministry of Defense where he was required to kill civilians. Later, Nuri's cousin Mustafa, who is waiting elsewhere for asylum, writes in a letter about one of the other refugees he's encountered:

I know that every other person here is trapped in their own hell – there is one man who holds his knees and rocks himself all through the night, and he sings, Nuri. He sings a lullaby that freezes my heart. I want to ask him who he once sang it to, or who it was that sang it to him. But I am afraid of his answer, and so I offer him cigarettes instead, it's all I can do, because he stops singing for a few minutes while he smokes.

In the Athens refugee camp, Afra befriends one young mother who has been driven insane by the theft of her infant, pulled from her arms while she slept in the refugee camp. Heartbreakingly, some other refugees the main characters encounter are so damaged by what they've been through that they can't even speak about what has happened to them.

There is so much heartbreak and sadness wrapped up in this novel that it's tempting to dismiss it as an overwrought work of fiction, but Lefteri knows the experiences chronicled here are just a few examples of what thousands of people around the world undergo on a daily basis. As a volunteer at a UNICEF-sponsored refugee center in Athens she witnessed the great level of suffering that plagues so many from war-torn nations seeking asylum. Her strong grasp on storytelling keeps the tale moving, though, preventing it from getting mired in tragedy, and her characterization is definitely a highlight; every single person Nuri describes comes across as real, even if his encounter with them is transitory.

Immigration and the plight of refugees headline the news in many nations, and to avoid complacency it's key for those of us with stable lives to read about those who aren't as fortunate. The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a great starting point for those interested in learning about the worldwide refugee crisis; it's an exceptionally well-written novel, if heartbreaking. Book groups in particular will find many points to fuel discussion, especially about the current challenges faced by those seeking to escape countries with repressive regimes and ongoing civil conflict.

Book Review of the Beekeeper of Aleppo

Title: The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Author: Christy Lefteri
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date of Publication: August 2019
Buy Link: https://amzn.to/33RDv8I

Book Blurb: “I wish my mom was here,” Mohammed said, and I placed a hand on his shoulder and watched him as his eyes flickered, following the fish in the sea.” Location 1499

I liked this novel very much. It took me much longer to review than I thought but it was because I stopped often. It is a story of lost family, tragedy, hardship, travel, and war. It is a story about family, hope, and rebirth. It is about psychological warfare waged on others by people who have more. At least that is my analysis.
Here is my summary:
Afra, and her husband, Nuri, lost their son when the bombing started where they lived in Aleppo. Running away to travel to a safer place to await the end of the war, reunite with his brother, and raise bees. The story itself is how he became himself after realizing he wanted to be a beekeeper. How his wife made him a happy man with his son. On their journey, they met several people and encountered different families. Each one was sad as the next. They met a mother whose child was stolen, a mother whose milk the baby finally drank, two young men, twins who were terrified but needed the help of an unscrupulous man whom Nuri helped kill. But there was one he met a young man named Mohamed. The two took him under their wing and started their journey with him. At one of the stops he disappeared. Both Afra and Nuri had hoped he would find them but as the journey continued the hope dwindled. The two finally reached their destination and had to change Afra’s appearance. Her hair was dyed blond.
One more thing that I forgot to mention in my analysis: I felt that this novel just like the others I read about the war in Syria and surrounding war-torn areas of that part of the world makes me sad. I feel that no child or parent should watch the other die. I cry when I read news from areas of people I used to talk with. I cry when I read the parts of the stories that correspond with war stories in the novel. I have not lived in their part of the world but I realize in talking to them it is just a way of life. The kids in the novels learned to become and act like children again. Families learned to hope again and rebuild again. It is a waste. I know it is a futile hope, but I wish that the war would end and not restart again. Will it ever be over?