Friday 56 & #BookBeginnings: The Death of Bees

 

For Book Beginnings: Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved. - p. 1
For Friday 56: "This house reeks of bleach and shit." I told her we had a bunged up toilet. She didn't mention it again, but she's right, the stink of Gene is all over the place, even with this cold, it's like he's stuck to the walls. - p. 56
This is such a weird book. Dark, gruesome, disturbing, weird. But I can't stop reading it. I mean, that beginning! What do you think ... is this something you'd pick up?

Synopsis: Marnie and her little sister Nelly are on their own now. Only they know what happened to their parents, Izzy and Gene, and they aren’t telling. While life in Glasgow’s Hazlehurst housing estate isn’t grand, they do have each other. Besides, it’s only one year until Marnie will be considered an adult and can legally take care of them both. 

As the new year comes and goes, Lennie, the old man next door, realizes that his young neighbors are alone and need his help. Or does he need theirs? But he’s not the only one who suspects something isn’t right. Soon, the sisters’ friends, their other neighbors, the authorities, and even Gene’s nosy drug dealer begin to ask questions. As one lie leads to another, dark secrets about the girls’ family surface, creating complications that threaten to tear them apart. 

Written with fierce sympathy and beautiful precision, told in alternating voices, The Death of Bees is an enchanting, grimly comic tale of three lost souls who, unable to answer for themselves, can answer only for each other.