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Grey Bees
When honey tastes of war.
Grey Bees is a novel about a war that has almost been forgotten, a novel full of atmosphere and wisdom, which forces the reader to slow down, reminding him of what matters most: preserving the integrity of nature.
Beekeeper Sergej lives in Donbass, where Ukrainian fighters and pro-Russian separatists exchange gunfire on a daily basis. He survives by following the motto: Hear nothing, see nothing – stay out of it. His only concern is the well-being of his bees. Because the bees’ world continues to be ruled by intelligent order and wonderful productivity while mankind wreaks havoc. One spring, he sets off: He wants to bring the bees to a region where they can collect nectar in peace.
448 pages
2019
978-3-257-07082-8
World rights are handled by Diogenes
(except Russian and Ukrainian rights)
»At the same time poetic and poignant.«
»With the novel Grey Bees, the author Andrej Kurkow has once again achieved a resounding success.«
»Andrej Kurkow’s novel illustrates the life of a civil society that lives in a war without being at war themselves.«
»Kurkow tells Sergej’s story in a predominantly light and humorous tone, but frequently interweaves grotesque scenes of destruction.«
»With Grey Bees, Andrej Kurkow has produced a sharply-drawn picture of the festering conflict in the Ukraine, one from which the rest of Europe has long since averted its gaze.«
»It is highly impressive how Andrej Kurkow manages to create a melancholic mood in his tale of the happiness seeker Sergej without descending into pathos.«
»Like Norbert Scheuer’s Winter Bees, this is far more than just another book about bees – and it is Kurkow’s strongest work yet.«
»Kurkow tells the oppressive story of the everyday of war in Eastern Ukraine with a quiet and poetic language.«