Review: 'A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings,' by Helen Jukes

After years of moving around Great Britain for work, Helen Jukes finally landed a job with a contract, allowing her to settle in Oxford. There she moved into a red brick house with a garden. She finds moths in carpet and mold on the walls, but there is hope. The back of the garden, Jukes knows, would be a good place for a beehive. And she knows quite a bit about urban beekeeping. The first part of "A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings" is the author's research into beekeeping and her internal struggle with the state of the world — bees dying off, industrialized agriculture, climate change. Should she, or should she not, get a hive?

Once the bees arrive, the pace of the year picks up. As a reader, I found myself sneaking away to check on Helen and her bees. There is something magical about these creatures that seem so domesticated, but are not. And there is a magic to this book, as well.

MAUREEN MILLEA SMITH