M.E.A. Mc Neil
Bee Club, a novel by M.E.A. McNeil, tells the story of a disparate group attracted to the importance and intrigue of their bees. Whatever little else they have in common, they find themselves bound together like kin to these undomesticated creatures – from the curious hobbyists to the entomologists delving into the mysteries of Apis down to the veins in their wings. Some keep bees to eke out a livelihood, like an elderly Finnish woman; some to heal, like the vet from a VA beekeeping program to treat PTSD; some for the spirit, like the woman who extols the beneficial vibrations of a buzzing colony; some for adventure and a few bucks, like the trio of friends that cram into a vintage Airstream to count frames of migratory bees for almond pollination. And then there is the bee-phobic teenager, with nowhere else to go.
There, in the Northern California countryside, the club is a microcosm of the joys and anguish of the wider beekeeping world. The beekeepers confront the reality of loss — facing pests, pathogens and poor forage and their own irreconcilable ways of dealing with it all. Whatever the opinions of those who tend their boxes, the bees are independent; they mingle their genes and their problems. The narrative follows, at bee’s-eye level, the lineage of one queen bee with a genetic advantage.
Here is an engrossing and witty story, accurately-detailed by a long-time bee journalist. It is as much about bees as their hovering people.
M.E.A. McNeil (called Mea) is a journalist, MFA and Master Beekeeper living in a strawbale house on a small Northern California organic farm. She is of Finnish extraction, as is a character in the book, and one of her books of Finnish mythology was awarded the Aesop Accolade. Her over 100 non-fiction articles delving into the bee world over two decades have provided a depth of education that frames her current novel, Bee Club.
Bee Club is published by Nervous Ghost Press
268 pages, paperback $13.95 Available from the publisher Nervous Ghost Press
Buteo Books, 2240 4th Street, San Rafael, CA
Bookmine, 1625 2nd Street, Napa, CA The Hive, 1221 Harter Ave, Woodland, CA
Praise for BEE CLUB
“Wonderful. Just – wonderful. From descriptive passages that made me feel Like I was there, to heartbreaking scenes, to the right-on-the-money portrayal of the journalist, I enjoyed this story from beginning to end. Witty, heartwarming and true-to-life.”
Eugene Makovec
Editor, The American Bee Journal
“Bees have a way of healing and educating people, and the process is usually unconventional. With a clear and honest voice, M.E.A. McNeil takes us on Lilja’s journey into the world of bees and beekeepers where we experience truth-telling within Finnish saunas, just-like-real-life
bickering among beekeepers, and biologically sound depictions of bees’ magical ways. We learn it is not just Lilja’s journey; it is also all of ours.”
Marla Spivak
Distinguished McKnight Professor of Entomology, University of Minnesota
MacArthur Fellow
“A thoroughly modern, warm-hearted story. The bee ‘facts’ are impeccable—and extensive in the novel. You will enjoy the beekeeping and the story around the bees.”
Dewey Caron
Emeritus Professor of Entomology, University of Delaware
Author of Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping.
“This beautiful, evocative story is a love letter to the creative and un-expected communities that sustain us, to the back-roads landscape of northern California – and to the surprising ways that beekeeping can connect hearts and minds. The characters are complex, the vivid descriptions engage your senses, and the story compels you to keep reading.”
Sarah Pollock
Writer and longtime senior editor, Mother Jones
Professor Emerita, Mills College
