The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a great little story about parents getting murdered (just plain dying? Suicide?) and their two resilient girls burying them in the back garden, which is, apparently, pretty representative of what happens in Glasgow all the time. And their next door neighbor, who sorts of takes the girls in under his wing. Oh, and he was convicted of pedophilia (paedophilia for them Scots) for soliciting an underage male prostitute in the park.
I really enjoyed the interwoven narrative from each of the main characters — Marnie, the eldest daughter and Nelly, her preternaturally bright and aloof ward by default, and Lennie, the next door neighbor living out the last days of his life. Each one of them have something to hide — from each other, from themselves, from the outside world — and the book is a kind of cozy mystery where certain things get revealed and lit from different angles pretty masterfully, I thought. Like swimming in a murky local pond, with all of its organic material making the waters difficult to see through, until you see the shaft of light ahead, lighting up that boat that sank when you tried to float it years ago.
The characters were a great bunch with whom you could spend a bit of time, sharing their secrets and getting swept along in the book.