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Grey Bees cover art

Grey Bees

Written by: Andrey Kurkov, Boris Dralyuk - translator
Narrated by: Andrew Byron
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Publisher's Summary

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
Genre Fiction
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Profile Image for Anng

Such a lovely story

This story has relevance to today and the current war in Ukraine. It is engaging as it is interesting. .

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Profile Image for Andriy Makukha

Engaging and light

I don't read fiction. But Kurkov is an exception. His books reflect life quite accurately while being as engaging as to make me breath rapidly at times in anticipation of the next page. Just like this book!
Compared to other Kurkov's novels, this one didn't have much magic or mystery. But the book is still interesting, light and optimistic, despite depicting life during a war.
And the narrator's performance was exemplary. He pronounced Ukrainian, Russian and Crimean Tatar names correctly (or so it seemed in the latter's case). And he gave personality to characters with a wide range of intonations. It might be the best performance of any audiobooks I ever listened to.

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