Little Bee (US)
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“Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl.” READ THE FIRST CHAPTER OF ‘LITTLE BEE’ “Little Bee will blow you away” – WASHINGTON POST “There’s one true story in particular that made me determined to write the novel.” “We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret” “Where can I learn more about Nigeria, London, and the real world of refugees and asylum seekers?” |
* NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Shortlisted for the 2008 Costa Novel Award * Nominated for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book * Longlisted for IMPAC Dublin Literary Award * A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice |
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| Note: LITTLE BEE is published in the UK, Ireland and Australia as THE OTHER HAND | |||
Entries (RSS)
The Other Hand – what an amazing book – it made me laugh, it made me cry but most of all it made me think. I finished it two days ago and I just can’t get it out of my mind. Thank you so much for writing it.
Before boarding a flight last weekend i bought the first book to grab my attention. The other hand. Wow ! Brilliant move on my part
! Love love love the voices, style, themes! Best read in ages!
Thank You
Love from cathrine in Norway !
I was at the airport and needed a book to get me through the flight. This yellow and black book caught my attention and so did the description in the back of it. Wow! I finished it in two days. Amazing story, characters and a wonderful way of telling their stories. Can’t wait for the movie! Great job Mr. Cleave. You have a new fan.
October 9th, 2010
I am hosting our book club meeting this coming Monday and have a couple of questions for Chris. I used to teach Anthropology and often covered Africa in my lectures. One of my favorie books was by Paul Bohannon who lived in Nigeria and studied the Tiv and the book he is famous for is entitled Africa for Africans. What I would like to know is which tribe did Little Bee belong to and what language did she speak? The women she encountered in the Detention Center and later the women she met on the beach spoke a different language as Nigeria is composed of Bantu, Yoruba, and Haussa speakers. I assume that Little Bee was a a member of the Kwa who speak a Mande language. Additionally what year did the massacres occuring in their village take place? Thank you for your response!
I just finished “Little Bee” and..wow..I was moved to big gulping tears by the end. This book has fixed a place in my heart as one of my favorites of all-time, and I believe it should be required reading for everyone. Thank you for this amazing gift to the literary world. I can only hope they do an amazing job with the film. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
xoxo
Little bee changed my world. This book is refering crucial subject for the all the world people. We should think that how much of our lives. Some people are not lucky and can not write their own destiny. Thanks for Little Bee’s. Peace! Love from Turkey.
Thank you, Gökçe.
I loved your book. It’s a powerful story and so well written! My book group is comprised of women at our local yacht club. We are all sailors. I will be leading the discussion at our next meeting on Nov. 2nd. I was wondering if you would give me more background about you interest in sailing. Also, why is the book’s title changed for North America? Again, thank you for writing a marvelous book, I’m sure that our book group discussion will be lively.
i’ve never felt so uncomfortable, vulnerable, or anxious throughout a novel – you are a true literary genius. thank you for sharing such a profound, relevant and vivid story. keep up the excellent work.
Your book was chosen for our book club by me and I enjoyed the read. Most of our members were captured immediately at the start, but commented that they felt disappointed during the second half and at the ending. For example, why would Sarah accompany Little Bee back to Nigeria and stay given that it was so dangerous? And, mostly, why would they go back to that beach especially with Sarah’s son along? Did you purposely choose to expose the shallowness of the UK characters in order to highlight the seriousness of Little Bee’s Nigerian life? We wonder if you could give us your comments. Thank you
I lead book groups in the San Francisco area. I am having all my groups read Little Bee. A remarkable novle and one rich for discussion.
We, our book club that is, read your book for our monthly choice for October. We all decided it was an extremely powerful book, gave us much to think about, and is such a relevant book for our times. Thank you for combining current issues, vivid and wonderful characters into such a readable book. We all enjoyed it, and our discussion was quite animated. I do have a question to ask you about your choice of location for the BLACK HILL IMMIGRATION REMOVAL CENTER – Why did you dedide to use the village of High Easter in Essex? Do you have any connections with that village? When I read (pg. 12) of your book I was completely taken by surprise to see my mother’s home village in print. When I lived in England 40 years ago very few people even knew where the village of High Easter was! Looking forward to hearing your reason/s.
Hi Chris, thanks for your kind words about the book. I wanted to use one of the ten real immigration detention centres in the UK, but for legal reasons I wasn’t able to. Therefore, I decided to use a fictitious facility that closely resembled the real ones. The real facilities tend to be buried in the countryside, to my mind because if they’re out of sight, then they’re out if mind. However, they tend to be within an hour’s drive from a major town, because the staff required to run the facility need to be drawn from somewhere. So when I was siting my fictive facility, I was looking for an unfrequented rural area that was nevertheless close to London. I found several candidate sites on a road atlas, and visited a few until I found High Easter, which seemed to me to be ideal. So there is no special significance to the choice, apart from the physical location of the village.
I really enjoyed reading Little Bee and couldn’t put it down – - – until the ending, which left me up in the air! I hated that, after waiting for the “happily ever after”. I would probably never read another of your books because it really depressed me to be left hanging. A friend who read the book felt the same way.
Thanks Madge – but if refugee stories mostly ended “happily ever after” then I wouldn’t have needed to write the book.
I really love both your books, I read them every few months haha
Please write more!
Can’t stop thinking about little bee. I loved the way it ended because it is a close reflection of reality. What may have happened to little bee after her capture? And Sarah? I’m thankful that I can finish this story in my head and take it all in my own direction. And you Chris Cleave, you must have a compassionate heart. A very compassionate heart.
Thanks Stevie! And I’m writing as quick as I can…
Thank you Farah.
Chris: At our book club meeting last night we discussed Little Bee. Everyone there enjoyed the novel but we have a question for you. We could not decide what the covers represent. Who is the “eye” on Little Bee’s profile. Also, The Other Hand – what does the “tree with the birds, animals, and other items” represent?
Thank you Metin
Hello Mr. Cleave…. my friends and i read Little Bee as a group and overall it was great…. thanks for the great novel and my friends and i really enjoyed it!
Thanks Rosie
why does the woman on the cover of” llittle bee” appear to have an engagement or wedding ring on??? seems out of place.
Dear Mr Cleave
I’m Brasilian woman 70 years old and I read your book Little Bee in a very good translation. I loved this book and I’ll never forget Udo.
Thank you for writing it and I hope some day I’ll be able to read your books at original language.
Magali Crescini
VERY interestting novel, while i was reading all the Imaginary characters were bluring in my eyes cant wait for the movie based on Little Bee .
hayatımda en çok severek ve keyifle okuduğum bir kitap sana teşekkür ederim chris diğer romanlarınıda takip edeceğim başarılar
“Weh!” Thank you for a beautiful and heartbreaking story. And thank you for telling Little Bee’s story. Little Bee is now apart of me. This will be one of the books I read over and over.
Little Bee is an excelent book. The ending was a little disapponting, what did finally happen to Little Bee. Did she live or did the soldiers kill her?
I read Little Bee in one day. I couldn’t put it down. I am a teacher and I have decided to offer it to my students. I can’t wait to discuss it with the. Thanks for the beautiful, rich language and thank you for writing a story that is so multi-layered.
This book is so thought provoking, I have a Nigerian granddaughter and the story has had me researching all aspects of life in Nigeria. Thank you
I read Little Bee last night and tonight. It’s 6:30 in the morning and my dogs are like, “WHAT is going on…”
My friend Ryan had to read it for a class at UNF. He has good taste and raved about it… Little Bee this and Little
Bee that… I’m so glad to have read this. I’ve learned so much and been on an emotional rollercoaster. What a good trick!
Dear Mr. Cleave,
What a remarkable and touching book you have written. I’ve never written to an author before, but your book touched me so deeply I had to tell you thank you. We are reading it in our book club and it is the first book I’ve ordered on my Kindle. Like Little Bee I believe our stories can live in others and make us transcendent.
I live in the end of the world and in this times many of my compatriots and neighboring contries emigrate to europe, and sometimes are good, but most are sad stories. So your book it’s not only true but our truth. Nobody goes somewhere because she/he wants to [mostly at least] but because there’s a need to it, almost always a sad one.
I’m a Pediatrician and I get to see, the children that are left behind of mothers that go looking for some hope. Anyway mister Cleave, seems to me you already know all of this. I don’t want to sound corny but my eyes are moist when I thank you for being a voice up there for those who don’t have any. Maybe you notice english is not my native tongue, I thoroughly enjoy your book in the literary way, a pleasure, since I bought the audiobook is also very well read.
Thank you for the audio version. One question thou:
Why you don’t allow your book to be sold to some geographical region like south america? Isn’t that an incoherence?
Sincerely
Hi Myrtha, thanks for your very kind comment. In answer to your question, I do now have one publisher in South America – in Brazil, and I hope that I will be able to find other publishers in the region. It’s not because I don’t allow the book to be sold. It’s just really hard to find publishers!
I literally devoured this book a couple of months ago. There is one quote “We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived” I just shared this with my friend who has battled lung cancer and for now has won but has some scarring. I think of this quote all the time.
Hepimiz Hazreti Ademin çocuklarıyız. Dünya hepimiz ile güzel. Her rengi, kokusu, kültürü ile insanlar değerli. Bir kısım insanların çatlayıncaya kadar yemesi, diğerlerinin açlıktan ölmesi.
Eserinizi severek okudum.
Hazreti Muhammed a.s Zulme karşı elinizle, dilinizle, hiç olmazsa kalbinizle karşı koyun der.
Siz kaleminizle çarpışıyorsunuz. Tebrikler
Türkiyeden okuyucunuz
Also, Chris, why is the book titled The Other Hand in the other three countries?
Thanks again,
Bob
This is the most brilliant book that I know. I actually listened to the audio and the reader did an excellent job with all of the voices. I actually looked you up because I was so sure that a woman wrote it (from the perspective of women and knowing details like the introverted new mother), and was surprised that it was written by a man. I loved all of the imagery. I loved the jeep scene with the description of the sunglasses and how the lens was cleaned by the snail and that is how she knew he was looking at the sky. I love the ways that little bee would kill herself (a wife of Henry VIII) and how she couldn’t in the nursery. I was so sure that she would kill herself in the end when the men came in London and when the men came on the beach, but it was so fitting that she saved Sarah’s life(her son) on the beach just as Sarah had done for her. I was deeply moved and felt so sad when the book was over, like I had lost a friend. I am a huge fan, and I can’t wait to read Incendiary and The Guardian column and everything else that you write. I am giving this book to three friends for Christmas.
why is the book titled The Other Hand in the other countries?
Sevgili Chris! Küçük Arı çok ama çok güzel bir kitap. Ellerine, emeğine, yüreğine sağlık…
Thank you, Raziye.
Just finished Little Bee. Absolutely woderful novel. Loved it
such a wonderful book! i LOVED everything about it – thank you. i was just wondering why an obviously educated woman like sarah tells little bee “this isn’t nazi germany.”…poor germans
Hi Chris,
I thought The Little Bee was a well written book with an encouraging message. I appreciate your attempt to enlighten and inform us about the issues at hand in other countries, and immigration problems. However, I thought your facts were a inaccurate. Your facts about Nigeria and some of the events you described did not coincide with current events.
Other than that it was a good book overall
Molly
Prezado Senhor,
Gosto de me dar presentes. O último presente que ganhei de mim mesma foi comprar o seu livro a PEQUENA ABELHA. Para continuar me presenteando quero lhe dizer obrigada pelo livro. No final fiquei feliz de ver que Pequena Abelha tem o nome quase que igual ao meu em meu idioma, a saber, o português. Grata Hulda Morais ( leitora do Brasil).
This was truly an amazing book that made me pause and think and question and appreciate and so many other things. Thank you.
What does “Weh” mean? I’ve looked everywhere. Thanks
[...] Little Bee by Chris Cleave [...]
I read Little Bee in June while my husband and I were vacationing in Spain (away from our 2 year old son) for our 10 year anniversary. Missing my son incredibly (who also adores his batman & superman pj’s), I was so consumed with the book that I read it in a day and a half and could not stop thinking about the novel since. I have passed this book onto as many friends as I can and have explained that it opened my eyes to so many issues and feelings I was not prepared for. When I got back from vacation I couldn’t wait to find out “who is this author”? I was amazed to see that you were also the author of Incendiary. I have not read the book yet because I saw the movie (without knowing it was based on a book otherwise I would of read the book first). As a first time mom, the movie was so incredibly hard to watch and again I told so many of my friends about the plot and how moving it was to me. It made complete sense once I found out the the authors of these two books were once in the same. Little Bee is my most favorite book I have ever read and I cannot wait to read something else from you. Thank you Chris.