The Boy Who Could Bee

The bee-yard at a Devonshire monastery looks deceptively serene on a summer day. No one expects greed and violence to spoil the peace where an old monk prepares to leave a famous legacy by breeding the perfect brood of honeybees (gentle and productive).

Eleven-year-old Joe is sent to help Brother Adam, the beekeeper, as an act of penance. The abbot caught him helping a gang steal from the monastery orchard. He has more to contend with than the grouchy monk and stinging insects. His older cousin, Emily, from London visits for the holidays following his father's death. She joins him with the monk in the bee-yard but is distracted by a village rumor about medieval monks hiding treasure on the grounds of the former abbey. She dreams of writing about the discovery for a debut as a junior novelist. Inveigling Joe to help the search, their hunt is menaced by a gang leader's family who holds a grudge against the monastery. Meanwhile, the monk's precious hive faces dire threats and only Joe can save them. But he still doesn't realize the fate of the hive is bound up with the old mystery.

Besides the drama on the grounds, another is unfolding inside the hive unbeknown to the keepers. The prize queen the monk calls Peacemaker and known to bees as Goldenrod almost died in a fire. He installed her with another family that resents her reigning over them. Besides the conflict between the two families, one of Goldenrod's eggs produces the 'half-queen' Sundew from a nursing error. After her nemesis, Hemlock, fails to eliminate her, she becomes a leader of an insurrection to eliminate the opposition. After the belligerent bees draw a truce, Hemlock craftily sends Sundew on a mission to bring home pollen from her namesake, the sundew plant. Thus begins a hero's journey. On returning home she finds the hive threatened by a monster previously only imagined by bees in their mythology. She allies with Hemlock to drive it off and saves the hive before looking for her family.

The keepers discover the tragedy of a vandalized hive during their tea party in the monastery garden. Then, the monk explains how to find a swarm by tracking a scout bee. When Sundew feeds from a bowl of honey on the table, Joe recognizes it as the bee he saved from the sundew while walking with Emily. He follows her beeline to recover the swarm and helps the monk reinstall it in the hive. Only he knows the attack on the hive won't be the last. Greedy hands are seeking the legendary treasure. He has unknowingly become its guardian along with the monk, but neither of them knows what kind of secret.

This is a story of redemption for a boy who overcomes demons to discover his talent for a new passion. The moral story of bees lies in their nature as loyal, resilient, and hard-working insects. The monk aims to overcome their aggressive streak by creating a brood of peacemakers as his parting gift to the world.

A real-life story and fantasy are told in ...