WOW! This is such a heartbreaking and thought provoking book. The book focuses on a beekeeper and his wife and their journey to safety in England from Syria. You will be thinking about this story and the characters long after you finish it because Christy Lefteri has these characters coming to life bye giving them a voice beyond what we see in television and media about the Syrian conflict. You are brought in their lives and really get to see the misery of being a refugee and the dark reality that they endure even after they get to safety. Christy’s storytelling is some of the best I have read this year and I believe that’s because she actually did volunteer work in Greece once refugees starting pouring in. Her experiences with Syrian refugees and seeing the haunting things that they have to go through is all over these pages.

A beautiful story of war, love, and loss. The characters were so real and heartbreaking, and during their journey I was rooting for them all the way. The PTSD angle and effects were an additional interesting aspect. Beautiful imagery with the bees. I hope this author writes another book in the future.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a beautifully written story of the challenges of refugee families. It is the journey of Nuri, a Syrian beekeeper and his artist wife, Afra, from Syria to the UK. They leave their home to seek asylum in London after the war takes everything from them. A story of love, loss, survival, despair and the hope that life will get better.

This is a difficult subject matter and a very sad story. It is also an excellent book! Our eyes and sight connect us to the world, it’s pleasures and horrors. They also connect our inner self to love, hope and despair. The Beekeeper of Aleppo touches it all with wonderful characters and heartfelt emotion.

A heart wrenching novel of the life the hardships torment refugees go through.In this novel Syrian refugees forced to escape the country they love.This is a beautifully written novel full of sadness seeking a new life.desperate for safety.#netgalley #randomhouse.

A beautiful and haunting tale of Syria and the families who lost so much and fought so hard to stay in their home country, only to be driven out by war.

This is the story of Nuri, a beekeeper, and his wife, Afra, who is an artist. They live in the city of Aleppo and their life is a good one. Until war comes. In a bomb strike their lives change forever. They change forever. Afra has seen such horrors, she is now blind. But with the aid of Nuri's cousin, they escape. 

It is a long and hard journey they must now go on. Now they are refugees. Looked down on and taken advantage of. Nuri is suffering from PTSD and only wants to find a place to raise his bees and be safe. They can never go back. All they have is memories of a home that will never be theirs again.

This is a story of human strength and compassion. A real story of the horrors of war in 
Syria and the real people who are dying and suffering for a reason we don't really understand. Nuri and Afra may never see Syria again, but can they find their way back to each other?

This is a book you need to read. It's not pretty and it's very sad, but it's honest and I cried and was very grateful to have read it.

Very Well Done!

NetGalley/ August 27th, 2019 by Ballantine Books

I adored this haunting, immersive, sad novel.

Lefteri did such a great job of putting me in Nuri's shoes. Not an easy feat, as we do not share first language/culture/country/gender/any life experience except marriage and parenting. This is a story of war and loss and a refugee odyssey through smugglers' vehicles and boats and foot travel and squalid camps and social services and clinics and bureaucracy. The stuff of news headlines is fleshed out here in the tale of one family.

I read fiction to experience the universal through the particular, and when it is done as well as it is here it is sublime.

With big thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC. Due out August 27 2019.

This is another novel told in non-linear fashion but it was relatively easy to follow. The time jumps of past memories usually made sense. It took me awhile to realize which were memories and which were present time.

This is the story of a Syrian family forced to flee their home, and the beekeeping business the protagonist Nuri runs with his older cousin Mustafa.

Lost a star due to a rape that I felt was unnecessary to the plot. I wish people would stop using rape as a plot point.

Recommended for those who like refugee fiction.

I did not finish this book, but not because of the writing. The writing was beautiful. The topic of refugees was too depressing for me and probably for my book group. I will purchase it, however, because this book might find its reader.

Oh man, this book tugged at my heart strings. In Christy Lefteri’s novel The Beekeeper of Aleppo we journey through a Syrian war with Nuri Ibrahim and his wife, Afra. Fleeing from for asylum in the UK Nuri and Afra travel thousands of miles through chaos in Turkey and Greece and end up in a refugee camp as they wait for the proper documents to gain asylum. Alternating between present day England and Syria, this story of survival and second chances will have you on the edge of your seats.

Lefteri is the daughter of two war-affected parents. She spent time in a refugee camp, were she assisted families who arrived from Syria and Afghanistan. Beautifully written and mesmerizing the end will have you pull out the tissues, this is a must read. Thank you, Netgalley & Random House Publishing, for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 4 out of 5 stars.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a heartbreakingly beautiful story. There is trauma, sacrifice, tragedy, but the beauty is in the overcoming, hope, and strength. The writing is poetic and tender. I found myself rereading lines because the some descriptions were so lovely. The past and present is artfully woven together in a unique way, and the story unfolds little by little. My heart ached for the terrible circumstances that many Syrians face and the violence and fear that permeates their lives. I liked how the vulnerability of bees mirrored those seeking asylum and how kindness and care is something that would aid both. The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a book I highly recommend for historical fiction fans who enjoy learning about other cultures.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo
By Cristy Lefteri
7/7/19

What a beautifully written, haunting novel about individuals caught up in the Syrian refugee crisis. Though the book does not give any insight into politics or the cause of the crisis, it describes the hardship of various refugees throughout their journey to freedom. Coincidentally, I read this book right after reading, The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo See, a true account of her flight from North Korea, and though that was a memoir, many facts in Beekeeper were similar and thus felt very genuine.

I was repeatedly struck by how long the journey to freedom could be, with many not ever reaching safety. The waiting felt endless, and often the journey felt hopeless. The corruption and bribes that were necessary in their flight left me feeling so sad for the many who don’t have those resources. And I recognize how fortunate I am to live in a safe country with resources.

I really loved the characters, Nuri, the beekeeper, and his wife Afra, an artist, as well as Nuri’s cousin and fellow beekeeper, Mustafa, whose emails kept Nuri’s dream of freedom alive. Lefteri did a wonderful job showing the trauma that these characters had been through, and then flipping my preconceived notions about strength, coping and PTSD on its head. We know that the couple arrives safely in England, as the book begins there, as they await their asylum, and that knowledge comforted me when all seemed lost.

The references to the art of beekeeping were interesting, and I loved the little “refugee” bee who lost his wings, but was still able to survive thanks to friends providing the right environment.

My thanks to NetGalley for an Advanced Readers Copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in any way

This is an amazing, beautifully written novel of Nuri and Afra, a beekeeper and his wife, who are Syrian refugees. The novel puts a face on the sorrow and hardships that refugees endure. There's incredible sadness, but also amazing resilience in this story. Your heart aches for these characters, but the novelists shows the strength of the human spirit. . The metaphor of the bee is incredible. Everyone should read this incredible book. Thank you NetGalley for the copy.

A tale of tragedy and survival of a Syrian family who runs from persecution to Great Britain. The story of their lives is told in strands from the past and the present, and the life of bees plays heavily into their human story. A fascinating tale of determination, sorrow and hope, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is one to read.

Christy Lefteri has written a heartwrenching story about the plight of Syrian refugees. It was not easy to read about conditions in a country that is imploding with hate and fear. She writes with sympathetic detail all that can happen to people who just want to live without the threat of death invading their daily life. Her characters are skillfully created to show the effect of repeated trauma.

Nuri had a good life as a beekeeper. His family built a successful business by understanding how the hives were structured. The health of the hive depended on the different types of bees all doing their separate jobs. Nuri loved his bees, his wife and son and his life was very good. Then came the civil unrest that destroyed his life and his country.

This is an important subject and I congratulate Ms Lefteri on a well written story. I received an Advanced Readers Copy from Ballantine Books through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#TheBeekeeperOfAleppo #NetGalley

4.5. A hauntingly realistic portrayal of the plight of refugees, making the painful decision whether to flee their Syrian ancestral homeland. Reading this novel, all I could think of is this could happen anywhere to anyone. In this case, it is the story of Nuri, a beekeeper in Aleppo, Syria and his wife, Afra. They are people like any of us, living a very peaceful and well to do existence with their family and friends until the Syrian war reaches their backyard and home. Nuri and Afra are not economic refugees. It is a story of their reluctant decision to leave their homeland and undertake a long, arduous, dangerous, and almost impossible trek to reach England, where their friends settled not too long before them. They go from Turkey, then to Greece, and eventually to England where they requested asylum. Their tragedy started in Syria but followed them along their journey. On their journey, they confront prejudice, abysmal conditions, and unspeakable crimes. Both Afra and Nuri suffer from post traumatic stress, in different ways, but all resulting from the atrocities they saw at home and on their journey. The story is poignant, painful, powerful, gripping, and tortured. It is a novel of loss, tragedy, courage, resilience and love. It is the story of what one does to survive impossible conditions. The characters are all realistically portrayed and vividly well defined. In my view, a must read to understand the perils of civil war and reasons for leaving one’s beloved and ancestral homeland in addition to the painful decisions and risks people take to leave their home. I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When did you last fear for your life? Fear seems to be the logical consequence when placed in an environment like Nuri the beekeeper. He has watched atrocities happen in Syria, and is confronted by perpetrators. They tell him, if he does not join them the next time they meet, he would be shot on the spot. When he tells his wife Afra about this, she stops hoping for their child to return, and fears for him. This prompts their fleeing in the direction of Europe. Afra has gone blind because of what transpired in Syria.

What ensues, is a heartbreaking attempt to make it to the UK as refugees. The hardships the refugees face on their journey’s are terrible, but some of the most traumatizing experiences are insinuated more than explicitly described. The trauma numbs the refugees and makes them eventually question their judgement. Throughout their journey, many experiences are described in vivid detail, focusing on everything but the visual appearance, when Nuri describes it to Afra.

This story might be a work of fiction, but reading it made it feel incredibly plausible. With said plausibility comes the burden of knowing how many refugees are likely to have experienced stories just as heartbreaking, just as terrifying and scarring.

So much to love about this book. Rich in depth and beautifully written. This novel follows a beekeeper and his blind wife who flee their native homeland of Syria to escape the horrors of the civil war. The author's vivid descriptions and writing makes me feel as if I am a part of their life and I am enduring these hardships along with them. She has a unique way of linking the two time periods that the story is being told - the journey out of Aleppo and then their struggle in finding a refuge and adapting to a new life.

I had so many emotions reading this, knowing that stories such as these have happened. Loss, love, resilience, courage. 5 beautiful stars.

Thank you to Random House Publishing for an advanced copy of this book.

This novel is a horrific story of a Syrian family trying to escape from Aleppo and work its way through Turkey, Greece, and eventually England. Nuri is a beekeeper who was taught his profession by his cousin, Mustapha. He is married to Afra, an artist and they had a child Sami. The plot jumps back and forth from their location in Aleppo or Turkey or Greece to England where they are applying for asylum. Afra has been blinded - just how we are not sure- and their child Sami has died from a bombing- the same event that brought on her blindness.
The characters, particularly that of Nuri, are well drawn and the descriptions and dreaming of life as a beekeeper are beautifully rendered. The smugglers, thieves, and charity workers who one expect to appear in this type of story are brought in and we feel the tension and fear of the couple. As we read of their plight, the migrant experience all over the world and now in particular at the southern border of the US is telling.
The organization of the book is somewhat confusing. In the middle of chapters dealing with the couple in Greece or Turkey the author without warning jumps to England. The book itself is thus an immediate spoiler because we know they have safely reached England while we are still dealing with their plight wondering whether and how they will get to their next stop. Had this disturbing structure not been used it would have been rated higher. I received this through Netgalley as an ARC.

4.5 stars
This is the story of Nuri and Afra, who leave Syria to escape the violence and tragedy there. Although this is a fictional account, it is heavily based on the author’s own experiences, including the time she spent working at a refugee camp in Greece. This is a beautiful story of the refugee experience. It really put me in their shoes and helped me to better understand what refugees go through and why they go through it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.