Beekeeper Grace thought throwing out her cheating husband would be the hardest thing she ever did. But when she opens the door to a property developer one morning, it’s clear that keeping her beautiful home and garden – her only sanctuary throughout her miserable marriage – will be the greatest challenge of all…
Fleeing to her best friend at the farm next door, Grace blurts out all her problems, only to be overheard by Amos, a handsome, free-spirited visitor with a twinkle in his eye. Fascinated by Grace and her bees, Amos offers to stay in the village of Hope Corner, to help turn her home into a guest house in return for lessons on beekeeping.
As Grace shows Amos how to nurture a hive and harvest honeycomb without getting stung, he is charming but secretive. He never stays long in the same place after an incident in his past involving a mysterious woman named Maria. But as their eyes lock over a jar of homemade honey, Grace can’t help feeling that she’d really like him to stay…
Determined to dispel her growing suspicion that Amos is running from something serious, Grace goes in search of the truth about Maria. But when she finds it, will she still want Amos to put down roots in Hope Corner, and will they still have a house to return to?
No matter how far they travel, bees will always find their way home…
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Beekeeper's Cottage to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Four years I have been waiting for this story The Beekeeper's Cottage to be told. That's the length of time since I read Emma Davies' absolute gem of a novella Merry Mistletoe which introduced us to the character of Amos Fry. If you haven't read that short story than I suggest you do so as it will really give you a flavour as to why Amos is such a special character that just has this most wonderful aura and sense of calm and serenity surrounding him. He struck such a chord with me that I was gutted the way everything was very much left on a cliffhanger in Merry Mistletoe and I was desperate to know more about him and his circumstances. Well finally the time has come and many books later Amos has reappeared and as always he wants to help people but hopefully now we will get some decisive answers to the innumerable questions I have always had about this character.
Amos is an enigma, a free spirit, a wanderer and someone who keeps his cards close to his chest which really makes for an intriguing character and one you want to get to know better. With no fixed abode, Amos is transient roaming from place to place and venturing to many places where some unknown source or inner feeling may call him. He has been travelling for so long on a quest only he knows the motivations for but with his arrival at Hope Corner Farm will his story come full circle? Just why has this little oasis of beauty beckoned him? Who is in need of help and why?
We return to Hope Corner Farm and to characters who have become familiar in Emma's previous book The House at Hope Corner. It was lovely to catch up with Flora, Ned, Hannah and Fraser and I thought the way their strand of the story was utilised was excellent. They are the people that give Amos a place to stay in return for some work that needs doing. They have ambitious plans to extend their flower farm and will grab any opportunities of help that are extended. But it is not the residents of the farm that really catch Amos' attention, although he does strike up a close bond with them. No it is their next door neighbour Grace. A woman similar to Amos in so many ways, which only become apparent the further we delve into the story.
Grace has been dealt a lot of blows recently and she has come to realise she needs to value each thing in her life as they may not always be there. She has reached the difficult decision that her marriage to Paul must come to an end. She can no longer tolerate the affairs or the state of perpetual fear or of being on edge that she feels around him. When Paul is confronted and a divorce sought, he plays his trump card. Grace's beloved cottage that she has spent so much time building up and tending to the gardens and her beloved bees are to be sold. Grace if not already in a state of distress is blindsided and filled with anger and sadness. What can she do to stop her beloved home being lost to her forever?
Grace was very much in tune with nature and her surroundings as was Amos. But her confidence and vitality has been sucked out of her due to Paul's overbearing and domineering personality. There was a rawness and vulnerability to her that was in danger of being exploited. Now is a turning point in her life and the decisions she makes will have a profound effect on the path her future takes. Amos soon realises it is Grace he is meant to help. He has to trust his instincts and over time draw things out from Grace, to help her unload her burdens. He understands that this will not come easy but will take, patience and consideration and that's what I love about Amos.
Amos is not your typical male character out to seek love and then ensues a lot of will they won't they for the remainder of the book, his journey is a different one as he seeks to assuage his guilt. For what we don't know but Grace never puts him under intense pressure to reveal all although she does question him. I knew when the time was exactly right that the revelations would come and at last Amos' truth would be told. But while I waited to reach that pivotal point I was more than content to read about Grace and how she would rectify the error of giving up her life, her hopes, dreams and aspirations to make Paul's life and career in TV a major success.
To many it would seem the arrival of a stranger on the doorstep of Hope Farm and his subsequent immersion into their lives would be very strange. How can you allow a person you had never met before to become so deeply involved in your personal life? Grace believes that she should be feeling anxiety and unrest with Amos there at every turn but instead he is a form of solace and comfort and it all feels so natural and as if everything was meant to turn out this way. As a reader, I thought the same but given I had gotten to know Amos in the previous story I felt I had a good understanding of this character already and I knew that his intentions were always worthwhile and genuine. Ok, there is an air of magic and allurement surrounding Amos and at times you do have to suspend your disbelief that he gets things even before the characters do. How does he do this? But really it all added to my fascination with this man and for Grace I'm sure she felt the same.
Sometimes, we can't explain things or pinpoint why we feel a certain way and therefore we are better just to go with the flow. Amos was leading Grace in a direction he felt was positive for her to ultimately try and save her house and she just had to trust her instincts as he himself had done for so long. Amos always turns negatives into positives and he gives people the nudge/inspiration they didn't know they needed. Anyone would want Amos by their side but at the same time he likes to retain the sense of mystery around him. He had built up an outer shell that no one had broken yet because he hadn't reached that pointed or met the right person to do so. I think he felt fearful of releasing so much emotion that he had bottled up for so long and that he would much rather deflect attention on to others. He did this by helping them which was so kind, thoughtful and brave to do but when would he let someone return the favour and do the same for him? Why did this need to happen in the first place? What had set him on the long road he had been travelling and would Grace be the one to get through a chink in his armour?
The plot of The Beekeeper's Cottage moves along at a nice and easy pace gradually culminating in many revelations and not one of them was a disappointment. In fact finally acknowledging everything allowed the reader to gain an even deeper understanding and appreciation of the character of Amos. I did enjoy Grace's character too as she became the catalyst for doors to be opened into Amos' soul. In the beginning, I think both Grace and Amos were lost in different ways and needed guidance, advice, support and to find kindred spirits who would be in tune with each other. But Paul has lots of dirty deeds up his sleeve and Grace has to try and battle both with her emotions and with the man who has created so much discomfort, anger and pain in her life.
Will Paul be successful in taking the cottage away from Grace and therefore brutally crushing what she has clung to for so long? Will the truth finally set Amos free and will he find the love he so desperately deserves? All will be revealed in this wonderful book that has more than done Amos' story justice. Yes, I may have been slightly apprehensive before beginning this story as I had built up Amos' character so much in my head and I didn't want the truth behind his story to be one big let down and a major fail but rest assured the wait was more than worth it. Thank you Emma Davies for deeply pleasing this reader and concluding this story so wonderfully which began with Merry Mistletoe.
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