Friday, July 23, 2010

Woah a Book based in my country: Malta !!! :D 'Like Bees to Honey' by Caroline Smailes

While I was searching through never, ever ending lists for another book to blog about I found this little treasure! What attracted me about this book is the cover. It is so beautiful. And when I gave it a better look i realised it features lots of things relating to Malta!! – a postcard, an airline ticket and a bottle of Cisk, the local beer. 

Malta looks so beautiful in pictures but when you actually see it in reality, it’s so much better! Take it from a resident :D



The fact that this book is about my country it has become a definite read in my book list, plus Like Bees To Honey is something that I’ve never read anything like in my life, particularly because the background to the story is my country! Don't get me wrong there are numerous Maltese authors who write their novels based in our country. However when a local describes his/her own country is quite different from having a foreign author writing about it.


Apart from the environment of the story what is quite peculiar is the story itself which according to Leah, a critic on chicklitreviews.com, it "encompasses many issues: death, religion, loss, love, guilt, yet it doesn’t seem as heavy a book as you might expect." Leah goes on to explain that the book "can be a difficult read at times; some of the things Nina admits to doing are quite cringe-worthy but what Nina’s confessions do is enable us to see why she feels such enormous loss and guilt. The book deals heavily with religion....Overall I hugely enjoyed Like Bees To Honey. It certainly wasn’t what I expected but what I got was stunning.  I even found myself tearing up towards the end of the book."

 Description:

Nina, her son Christopher in tow, flies to Malta for one last visit with her aging parents. 

Her previous attempt to see them ended in tears. Disowned for falling pregnant while at university in England, she was not allowed into the house. 

This will be her final chance to make her peace with them. But Malta holds more secrets and surprises than Nina could possibly imagine. What she finds is not the land of her youth, a place full of memories and happiness. Instead she meets dead people. Lots of them. 

Malta, it transpires, is a transit lounge for recently deceased spirits and somehow Christopher enables her to see them, speak with them and help them. And, in return, they help Nina come to terms with her own loss. One so great that she has yet to admit it to herself. 

Like Bees to Honey is a story of family, redemption and ghosts. It is a magical tale that will live with you long after you finish reading. 
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Hope I tantalized your curiosity and if I did, please let me know what you think about this book :)

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