Food & Drink Month Review: The Beekeeper's Secret by Josephine Moon

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Maria knew about guilt. It was a stubborn, pervasive and toxic emotion, and incredibly difficult to shake. Especially if really, deep down, you didn't think you deserved to let it go.

Maria spends her days tending to the bees of Honeybee Haven and creating wonderful honey products to fund children in need. A former nun, Maria's life has long been shaped by a shadowy secret and her own self-imposed penance for events in her past. The arrival of two letters, one pink, from nearby Noosa Heads, and one marked with a government crest, herald the shattering of Maria's peaceful existence.

Before they were married, Tansy made a very serious deal with her husband, Dougall. With their elegant apartment and beachside lifestyle in Noosa, they have everything they agreed they wanted in life, so Tansy is going to ignore the feelings that might suggest she has changed her mind. On top of those not-really-there feelings, Dougall wants to move to Canada!

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Food & Drink Month: Q&A with Josephine Moon

This morning it's my pleasure to welcome Australian author Josephine Moon, whose latest book The Beekeeper's Secret has recently been published here in the UK, to take part in the latest foodie Q&A for this feature month.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing journey? 
I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, with my husband, four-year-old son and a small farm of animals. I'm very lucky to have the best job in the world. The Beekeeper's Secret is my third foodie fiction novel (novels with food themes) and I'm working on my fourth now.

My pathway to publication was long and windy but can be summarised as: twelve years, ten manuscripts, countless rejections, a lot of tears, some good friends, many workshops and courses, some notable shortlistings and competition wins, and adventures into self-publishing. Then, a very lucky break—Monica McInerney passed my manuscript for the The Tea Chest to her agent, Fiona Inglis of Curtis Brown Australia, who then became my agent and it was a pretty swift move to a contract from there.

Where did the inspiration for The Beekeeper's Secret come from? 
I was trying to write a family saga set on a coffee farm, that’s where it started. I did lots of research about coffee, really intellectually interested, but I had no passion for it. So I had to ask myself, what was I passionate about? And the answer was bees!

So I did research on bees and was really getting into that. I’d abandoned my family saga and was now trying to write a book about beekeeping and corporate sabotage, but there were these nuns in the background who were very strong and very insistent. I kept writing this book on corporate sabotage and I kept trying to write the nuns into the story until it became clear that they didn’t belong there at all.

So I had to ask them, what do you want?

And they wanted a whole book. Specifically, Maria, one of our main characters, wanted a whole book. And when something turns up that strongly and persistently, as a writer, I believe it’s my duty to write it down.

How much research did you need to do about bee keeping and making honey to enable you to write this story? 
I read books and websites and watched YouTube clips of beekeeping, then I found a local beekeeper who let me go out and visit her bees. That was really special. For me, research is the key to finding my stories, so I do a lot in the beginning and keep going as I write.

All three of your novels so far have featured food or drink in some format or other, what is it about this niche market that attracts you to write stories featuring food or drink? 
I love writing about food because everyone is connected by food. And food has a long chain of people involved from the time it's grown to the time we buy it or eat it, so there are a lot of characters involved and a lot of entry points to find a story.

Books Read: Josephine Moon - The Tea Chest

Kate Fullerton, talented tea designer and now co-owner of The Tea Chest, could never have imagined that she'd be flying from Brisbane to London, risking her young family's future, to save the business she loves from the woman who wants to shut it down.

Meanwhile, Leila Morton has just lost her job; and if Elizabeth Clancy had known today was the day she would appear on the nightly news, she might at least have put on some clothes. Both need to start again.

When the three women's paths unexpectedly cross, they throw themselves into realising Kate's magical vision for London's branch of The Tea Chest. But every time success is within their grasp, increasing tensions damage their trust in each other.

With the very real possibility that The Tea Chest will fail, Kate, Leila and Elizabeth must decide what's important to each of them. Are they willing to walk away or can they learn to believe in themselves?

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Debut Spotlight: Josephine Moon

Today I'm delighted to introduce you to Australian author whose debut novel The Tea Chest is published today in the UK. 

Josephine Moon lives with her husband and son, and their extraordinarily large and diverse animal family, on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. She has a passion for horses, imported fine chocolate and gourmet teas.

Kate Fullerton, talented tea designer and now co-owner of The Tea Chest, could never have imagined that she'd be flying from Brisbane to London, risking her young family's future, to save the business she loves from the woman who wants to shut it down.

Meanwhile, Leila Morton has just lost her job; and if Elizabeth Clancy had known today was the day she would appear on the nightly news, she might at least have put on some clothes. Both need to start again.

When the three women's paths unexpectedly cross, they throw themselves into realising Kate's magical vision for London's branch of The Tea Chest. But every time success is within their grasp, increasing tensions damage their trust in each other.

With the very real possibility that The Tea Chest will fail, Kate, Leila and Elizabeth must decide what's important to each of them. Are they willing to walk away or can they learn to believe in themselves?

Researching The Tea Chest

As a writer, one of my favourite aspects of a book’s journey is the research. I just love falling into a textbook, or a glossy book of photos, or skimming through the internet and stumbling across rabbit trails of information that hook me and transport me to another place or sensory experience. Words turn to images in my mind and images come together to form scenes, plot complications and motivations for characters. My characters passion is picked up by my characters and the story takes off in unexpected ways.