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“The Bees is an extraordinary feat of imagination, conjuring the
life of a beehive in gripping, passionate, and brilliant detail. With
every page I turned, I found myself drawn deeper into Flora's plight and
her immersive, mesmerizing world.”
- Madeline Miller, New York Times bestselling author
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“The Bees is one wild ride. A sensual, visceral mini-epic about timeless
rituals and modern environmental disaster. Paull’s heart pounding novel
wrenches us into a new world.”
- Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author
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“[A] gripping Cinderella/Arthurian tale with lush Keatsian adjectives.”
- Margaret Atwood, New York Times bestselling author
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“Paull’s ambitious and bold first
novel…is told with rapturously attentive imagination…[and] propulsive and
addictive prose…Few novels create such a singular reading experience. The buzz
you will hear surrounding this book and its astonishing author is utterly
deserved.”
- New York Times Book Review
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“Richly imagined.”
- Los Angeles Times
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“Riveting… evocative and
beautiful.”
- NPR
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“It quickly became clear that in
its basic facts, the novel sticks closely to real-world apian biology and
behavior. That is fascinating enough, but Paull deftly wields this information
to create an even more elaborately layered culture of beeness…Beautiful.”
- Washington Post
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“Fascinating…engrossing…Paull’s
clear fascination with her source material brings humanity and warmth to a
depiction of the remarkable social world of bees, which is no small
achievement.”
- Huffington Post
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“Brilliantly imagined…Paull’s use
of human language to describe this tiny, intricate world is classic
storytelling at its finest…The Bees
boasts a refreshingly feminist spin on fairy tale-style plots….A wildly
creative book that resonates deeply for quite a long time.”
- Austin Chronicle
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“A marvelous work of fiction…The
parallels to 1984 and Margaret
Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale are
numerous, but this story is also its own.”
- Florida Times-Union
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“Paull’s
debut presents the intricate world of the honeybee hive, where devotion and
service are sacred and caste, politics, and power are as present as in any
human royal court. A powerful story reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, in which one
original and independent thinker can change the course of a whole society.”
- Library Journal, (starred review)
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“Imagine a story similar to
Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale but told from the perspective of an insect.
That’s exactly the premise of Paull’s debut novel…Paull’s plot brings to mind
films like the 1998 hit Antz, but her
deft storytelling and her nod to scientific literature allow the story to avoid
the cutesy trappings that sometimes characterize novels featuring nonhuman
characters. A surprisingly compelling tale.”
- Booklist
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“Dystopia
meets the Discovery Channel in this audacious debut novel…Like Animal Farm for the Hunger Games generation, Paull’s book features characters who are
both anthropomorphized and not—insects scientifically programmed to ‘accept, obey,
and serve’ but who also find themselves capable of questioning that
programming…And
while Flora 717 may not be the next Katniss Everdeen, she symbolizes the power
that knowledge has to engender change, even in nature.”
- Publishers Weekly
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“Paull
deserves kudos for a daring idea.”
- Kirkus Reviews
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“Narrator Orlagh Cassidy’s
enchanting performance enriches this debut novel…Cassidy’s vivid, engaging
characterizations quickly transport listeners into the busy world of the bees…As
Flora transcends her destiny, moving up through the ranks to forager, Cassidy
expertly conveys the bee’s astonishment at each new discovery, curiosity about
the outside world, and bravery when defending her sisters against attack. The
success of this audiobook lies in Cassidy’s respectful yet lively narration,
which enables listeners to connect with the story on a number of levels. Winner
of AudioFile Earphones Award.”
- AudioFile