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Elizabeth Graver's first novel, Unravelling, was hailed on publication as "exceptional" (The New York Times Book Review), "a pleasure" (The New Yorker), and "exquisitely poignant and sensual" (The Boston Globe). Now, in her second novel, she proves herself to be a major voice in American fiction. The summer that eleven-year-old Eva is caught shoplifting (for the fourth time), her mother, Miriam, decides the only solution is to move out of the city to a quiet town in upstate New York. There, she hopes, they can have the normal life she longs for. But Miriam is bound by a past she is trying to forget, and tensions escalate. It is only when Eva meets a reclusive beekeeper that she-and her mother-can find their way back to each other, and can begin life with renewed promise.
A haunting novel of memory and desire, The Honey Thief reveals the healing power of friendship and the ineradicable bonds of mother and child. 5-5/16 X 8.
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Brian Gibbs
reviewed The Honey Thief on August 20, 2020
The Honey Thief
(2.5) Ever since I read The End of the Point, I've meant to try more by Graver. This was her second novel, a mother-and-daughter story that unearths the effects of mental illness on a family. Eleven-year-old Eva has developed a bad habit of shoplifting, so her mother Miriam moves them out from New York City to an upstate farmhouse for the summer. But in no time Eva, slipping away from her elderly babysitter's supervision and riding her bike into the countryside, is stealing jars of honey from a roadside stand. She keeps going back and strikes up a friendship with the middle-aged beekeeper, Burl, whom she seems to see as a replacement for her father, Francis, who died of a heart attack when she was six.
Alternating chapters look back at how Miriam met Francis and how she gradually became aware of his bipolar disorder. This strand seems to be used to prop up Miriam's worries about Eva (since bipolar has a genetic element); while it feels true to the experience of mental illness, it's fairly depressing. Meanwhile, Burl doesn't become much of a presence in his own right, so he and the beekeeping feel incidental, maybe only included because Graver kept/keeps bees herself. Although Eva is an appealingly plucky character, I'd recommend any number of bee-themed novels, such as The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The History of Bees by Maja Lunde, and even Generation A by Douglas Coupland, over this one.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
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Add The Honey Thief, Elizabeth Graver's first novel, Unravelling, was hailed on publication as exceptional (The New York Times Book Review), a pleasure (The New Yorker), and exquisitely poignant and sensual (The Boston Globe). Now, in her second novel, she proves hersel, The Honey Thief to the inventory that you are selling on WonderClubX
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Add The Honey Thief, Elizabeth Graver's first novel, Unravelling, was hailed on publication as exceptional (The New York Times Book Review), a pleasure (The New Yorker), and exquisitely poignant and sensual (The Boston Globe). Now, in her second novel, she proves hersel, The Honey Thief to your collection on WonderClub |