The Beekeeper of Aleppo

The must-read million copy bestseller

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Pub Date 02 May 2019 | Archive Date 09 Sep 2020

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Description

In the midst of war, he found love In the midst of darkness, he found courage In the midst of tragedy, he found hope. The Beekeeper of Aleppo: what will you find from his story?

Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape.

But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain.

On the way, Nuri is sustained by the knowledge that waiting for them is Mustafa, his cousin and business partner, who has started an apiary and is teaching fellow refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees.

As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all - and perhaps this is the hardest thing they face - they must journey to find each other again.

Moving, powerful, compassionate and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit. Told with deceptive simplicity, it is the kind of book that reminds us of the power of storytelling.

In the midst of war, he found love In the midst of darkness, he found courage In the midst of tragedy, he found hope. The Beekeeper of Aleppo: what will you find from his story?

Nuri is a...


Advance Praise

'This is a novel of international significance. Courageous, provocative, haunting, it will open our eyes' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz

'This book dips below the deafening headlines, and tells a true story with subtlety and power' Esther Freud


'Beautiful, its sensual style and its onward and lively urge for resolution' Daljit Nagra


'Christy Lefteri has crafted a beautiful novel, intelligent, thoughtful and relevant. I'm recommending this book to everyone I care about. So I'm recommending this book to you' Benjamin Zaphaniah

'This is a novel of international significance. Courageous, provocative, haunting, it will open our eyes' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz

'This book dips below the deafening...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781785768927
PRICE £16.99 (GBP)
PAGES 400

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Average rating from 176 members


Featured Reviews

This is a fabulous book. It tells the story of Nuri and Afra who eventually leave Aleppo in Syria and attempt the journey to the UK to meet their cousin Mustafa. They have lost everything, their home, their work, their son and Afra has even lost her sight. Yet they don't really want to go. They want to stay in their familiar place, their home town. But when Nuri is threatened by terrorists, they no longer have a choice. They must leave.

The book mostly details their journey. It skips between past and present and gradually their full story is revealed. Along the way they encounter both the kindness of strangers and the absolute depravity of predators taking advantage of the most vulnerable of society. The descriptions of their time in Athens are made extremely convincing due to the author's experience having volunteered with refugees in this city.

When they finally arrive in the UK, the asylum process begins and life continues to be difficult.

This is a book which is topical and important. At a time when refugees are literally washing up on our shores, many people do not stop to consider their backstory. This novel helps you to understand the desperation that drives people to make such a perilous journey. It is extremely well written as the author has credibility in both the writing world and personal experience in what she has written about. I hope she writes more. It reminded me of 'In The Sea There Are Crocodiles' which is based on a true story and one where the refugee also passes through Turkey and Greece.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Wow! What a book!
The heartbreak of the trek from Aleppo to London opens your eyes to the horrors that people face to free themselves from the horror of their lives.
Skipping from present to past throughout the novel, you travel each step and feel the pain that they do.
Such an eye opening and emotional read, that opens your eyes to the horrors that people must face to survive.

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I found this book emotionally draining but absolutely riveting.

It tells the story of Nuri and Afra who are forced to leave Aleppo to travel to join his cousin in England. The story shifts between their arrival in England and their perilous journey. You learn of their previous life, their heartbreak and the traumas they both suffer. This is a story which will stay with me for some time - I rarely cry at a story but this one made me well up.

Beautifully written - a must read book.

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“Refugees didn’t just escape a place. They had to escape a thousand memories until they’d put enough time and distance between them and their misery, to wake to a better day.”
― Nadia Hashimi, When the Moon is Low

Nuri was a beekeeper in Aleppo, Syria, his wife Afra an artist - of course this was before the war that was to tear their lives apart, and in which they suffered the most unbearable loss. In addition, this loss left Afra blind. Prior to the war, they’d lived a simple but happy life among friends and family, people who knew the meaning of the most important thing in life - love.

As things became ever more dangerous, with random killings and beheadings of innocent men, women and children, they had no choice but to leave what was left of their once beautiful city, and the only lives they had ever known. They become one of the many thousands of displaced people - asylum seekers making the dangerous journey across countries and stormy seas, whilst encountering much hatred and prejudice along the way. These people have witnessed unbelievable horrors that have left them grief stricken, broken and traumatised, and, as they begin this mammoth journey to who knows where? they have to believe that they will find a new home somewhere, but it will be a home with rooms empty of those that they loved.

Gosh, what a journey this was, not merely in geographical terms, but in the raw emotions of those involved. The subject of immigration is one that everyone has an opinion on, and The Beekeeper of Aleppo takes you behind the news headlines, giving a birds eye view of the dangers and obstacles involved. It’s a horrifying yet beautiful novel that is so relevant right now.

The author is well qualified to bring us this fictional, yet realistic story, as she spent time working as a volunteer at a UNICEF supported refugee centre in Athens.

Don’t miss this haunting , heartbreaking and thought provoking novel - even the simple description of the love and attention Nuri lavished on his beloved bees, is just so moving it’s enough to break your heart.

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So many people in the world have been displaced from their homes for one reason or another. We read the figures in the news, but they remain figures. We do not have the capacity to take in the enormity of the grief, fear, loss of these people.

It takes stories such as The Beekeeper of Aleppo to enable us to focus on some of the realities for refugees. The story follows the path of one family who flee from Aleppo in Syria and make their way to England. Nuri was a beekeeper and his wife, Afra, an artist. Even when Aleppo was bombed to destruction, Nuri did not want to leave his home, but when he is finally threatened to take up arms or die he realises he must flee.

This is a superb book. It is very cleverly written, with the first half of each chapter taking place in England and the second half following the journey from Syria. The reader gets sucked into one story, then thrown back into the other, which is equally enthralling.

This is a heartbreaking tale. Nuri and Afra have lost their son, their home, their country and everything that is familiar to them. The journey is fraught and terrifying and they are left no only no knowing who to trust but struggling to find each other. Even when they reach England, where they hope to be reunited with Nuri's cousin, Mustafa, the uncertainty and confusion continues as they must apply for asylum and try to negotiate a system they don't really understand.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is a tale of human tragedy which sadly is playing out all around us.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

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THE BEEKEEPER IF ALEPPO

BY

Christy Lefteri

Until recently our various media outlets were leading with news of the turmoil in Syria. The author was a volunteer at a refugee centre in Athens and saw for herself the effect of the war was having on those who arrived in Greece. Moving, shocking, heart rending tales of the ordinary people, victims of a regime, as they decide whether to leave their country, and if so when? The book is fiction but I suspect much of it is based on what this author witnessed.
Cousins Nori and Mustafa are as close as brothers . From their apiary in the hills above Aleppo they run a successful business selling honey around the globe. Until one morning they find the whole place destroyed, hives burning and bees homeless. Reluctantly the know it is time to leave Syria. Easier said than done. How can you escape from the soldiers watching every move and randomly killing children as target practise?
The book follows Nuri and his wife, Afra, on their journey across borders and seas in their striving to reach Britain. They gain some sort of refuge in camps where often all they have is a blanket to lie on amidst squalid conditions, and where crime is rife. Neither is in good health. It is the hope of eventually reuniting with Mustafa and his family. By focusing on one family the writer polarises the effect this dreadful war is still is still having on the people of Syria.
The reader is grabbed from the first chapter of this tightly written, sensitive book and cannot fail to be moved. Fiction it may be but it reveals the individual human suffering more intensely than any wide ranging news story. The beautiful flowing language brings alive the smells, the dirt, the privations and the hopelessness of people who have lost everything.
This is not a happy book but is one that should be read. It is written from the heart by someone who witnessed the flood of people who left everything they knew and loved with only hope of a peaceful life sustaining them.
And the finale? Gentle and appropriate.

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