*Please note: This post contains affiliate links.

What are your favorite things in a story?

I love stories that combine a tradition of rich storytelling with the action and tension of what’s going on in the present. 

I love stories with a hint of impossibility that keep you turning pages to try to figure out what will happen next.

And I love stories with sweet, heartfelt, satisfying endings that just feel right. I love stories where you can turn that last page and exhale a sigh of relief, believing it ended just as it should.  

I feel like Lindsay Eagar has all of these things in her middle-grade debut novel, Hour of the Bees (Amazon Affiliate Link).

And so once I started reading, I could hardly put it down.

In Hour of the Bees, twelve-year-old Carol is devastated to have to spend the summer in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico while her family helps prepare Grandpa Serge—who Carol has never even met before—to move away from his beloved ranch and into a home for people with dementia. Grandpa Serge’s storytelling blends with Carol’s present experiences at the ranch, changing her heart along the way.

This story reminds us of the wonders of the world we live in, some of which we will never understand.

God works in mysterious ways, and His creation is often beyond our comprehension. And yet, we are part of this creation, designed to love and care for it and for each other.

I also love the themes of redemption and hope that run through the course of the novel. This beautiful world we live in is also very broken. But there is room for new life. There is room for reconnection. There is room for hope. And God has placed people in our lives for a reason.

When the story begins, Carol is in the last place she wants to be, spending time with a grandfather she doesn’t really care to get to know.

But by the end—well, if you haven’t yet read Hour of the Bees, I’d encourage you to grab a copy and start reading!

The link below is an affiliate link for Amazon, which helps support me in creating more posts like this one!

And never forget… you are wonderfully created by the same One who crafted this wonderful, mysterious world.

Love,
Becca