Like Bees to Honey by Caroline Smailes

Gosh I don't think I have a font size big enough to do justice to just how lovely this book is. Bereaved and depressed, Nina leaves her family in the UK and goes home to Malta. Having become pregnant out of wedlock years earlier her Maltese family have cut her off. She goes to make peace with, quite literally, the ghosts of her past.

The basic mechanics of plot are quite simple so this review is confined to the sumptuous interiors: of Nina, of Malta, of the Maltese houses and churches, and of the ghosts that haunt Nina. Nor am going to quote anything as this book is a meal not a snack.

In Like Bees to Honey Caroline Smailes has written a sweet and emotional book that manages never to be sentimental or cloying, and when your themes are death, redemption, love, homecomings and food, that's quite a trick to pull off. It is beautifully written with luscious descriptions of food and buildings, mixed with fluttering ribbons of Maltese speech, and layered with the psychological detritus of letters and memoir and flights of fancy. Throughout there is word and syllable level repetition that gives the otherwise limpid narrative a reassuringly solid and material form balancing dark and light as beautifully aurally as the twists and turns of the narrative balance thematically. Every page is quite the most gorgeous experience.

This is the kind of book that makes you want to rush out and buy eight copies to wrap in tissue and ribbon and place on plates as place setting at Christmas. It is that gorgeous. The food would probably go cold though. Enjoy!

You can visit Caroline Smailes' website here  and her twitter profile here.

Comments

[Carola Huttmann]

A great review ... thanks. This book has just moved to the top of my 'to read' pile.

[Bernadette]

So it was an OK read then? :)

Nice to see you combining font size with superlatives to make your point, have read a few books that make me feel this way too...such a scrmptious feeling.

[Barbara]

You make this sound absolutely mouth-watering in more ways than one!

[Yvette]

This sounds like the sort of book you would want to cozy up with. I like that. And by the way, wonderful review, beautifully written in itself.

I'm adding it to my list. :)

[Caroline]

Thank you so much for 'getting' my novel. Can't tell you how much that means to me x

[Juxtabook]

It is indeed scrumptious and mouthwatering Bernadette, Barbara and Carola. Thank you for your kind words Yvette...
... and Caroline thank you very much for visiting and commenting.