don’t tell the bees is a novella-in-flash, portraying a family and village life in France between the wars, an historical period rarely written about. This is beautiful writing, the carefully constructed prose often reading as lyrical as poetry, and many passages could be read aloud as poems. Village life is honestly captured, showing how the old ways, almost feudal and often brutal, began to change (and needed to change) particularly with the arrival of the road gang of workers building the motorways.

I admired the technical skill of the author in creating a believable arc out of unique flash stories, though I longed to see more of the bees and beekeeping throughout the thread. I never quite engaged with the characters, and didn’t feel emotionally connected to their lives, which possibly says more about me and my lack of knowledge on this historical time.