Grey Bees

By: Andrey Kurkov, Boris Dralyuk - translator

Narrated by: Andrew Byron

With a warm yet political humor, Ukraine's most famous novelist presents a balanced and illuminating portrait of modern conflict.

Little Starhorodivka, a village of three streets, lies in Ukraine's Grey Zone, the no-man's-land between loyalist and separatist forces. Thanks to the lukewarm war of sporadic violence and constant propaganda that has been dragging on for years, only two residents remain: retired safety inspector turned beekeeper Sergey Sergeyich, and Pashka, a rival from his schooldays.

With little food and no electricity, under constant threat of bombardment, Sergeyich's one remaining pleasure is his bees. As spring approaches, he knows he must take them far from the Grey Zone so they can collect their pollen in peace. This simple mission on their behalf introduces him to combatants and civilians on both sides of the battle lines: loyalists, separatists, Russian occupiers, and Crimean Tatars.

Wherever he goes, Sergeyich's childlike simplicity and strong moral compass disarm everyone he meets. But could these qualities be manipulated to serve an unworthy cause, spelling disaster for him, his bees and his country?

©2022 Deep Vellum (P)2022 Tantor

Beautiful and tragic

This was such a great listen. The author took the time to get the reader comfortable with being uncomfortable. Building up a solid foundation for the main character and his deserted little town and following him as he ‘adventures’ out little by little. Having family and spent time in Eastern Ukraine probably helped with the appreciation of the quirks of the characters and complexity of the situations described, but even without that it kept me on the edge of my seat. Additional points from a new beekeeper that experienced much of the bee related situations described. Exceptionally well narrated.

Thank you

Down to earth and realistic story for today’s time. simply put, value the simple things, especially the bees.

The dramatic changes in the lives of Ukrainians due to war are depressing.

The writing sounds fresh in many places. The author’s skill brought me along through the story.

Beautiful mundanity amidst the chaos of war

A snapshot of a simple life surrounded by the complicated tragedies of an unjust war, the narrative buzzes pleasantly along with moments of profound reflection, beautiful description, and unwavering faith in the promise of a new day.

Slow-moving but valuable and enlightening

When you listen to Grey Bees, you enter the very slow-moving deliberate world of the protagonist, the beekeeper. It kept striking me over and over again during the listen that I was expecting the pace to pick up, or expecting sudden plot twists, and the pace didn't pick up and there weren't major plot twists. When I finally settled into the pace, I felt that I was experiencing the life of a beekeeper in the Grey Zone (between Donetsk and Ukraine), which was quite ho-hum and repetitive. Eventually, I grew to love this pace, and developed a true understanding and love for the protagonist who lived on the edge of the war zone (this was the 2014 conflict, not the current conflict), as he struggled with deprivation, loneliness, and fear, while protecting his bees and their hives. As he took to the road with his bees, to provide them a better place to forage for pollen, a number of incidents befell him which only heightened the sense of helplessness, hopelessness, and despair faced by him and others in the path of violence, while at the same time, offering examples of unexpected humanity and kindness from strangers he met on the road. Time after time, the spectre of a cold and brutal police presence made itself known to the beekeeper, and he managed these confrontations with his usual diffidence. The book provides a welcome insight into the lives of innocent people living in the Ukraine as political forces over which they have no control wreak havoc around them.