The Beekeeper's Daughter
Santa Montefiore, 2014
Simon & Schuster
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781471101014
Summary
A family rocked by tragedy, a love that lives through time, a story that will stay in your heart.
Dorset, 1933: Grace Hamblin is growing up on a beautiful rural estate. The only child of the beekeeper, she knows her place and her future—until her father dies unexpectedly and leaves her bereft and alone.
Alone, that is, except for the man she loves, whom she knows she can never have.
Massachusetts, 1973: Grace's beautiful, impetuous daughter Trixie Valentine is in love. Jasper is wild and romantic, a singer in a band on the brink of stardom. Then tragedy strikes and he must return to his home in England, promising to come back to Trixie one day, if only she will wait for him.
Weighed down by memories, unaware of the secrets that bind them, both mother and daughter are searching for lost love. To find what they are longing for they must confront the past, and unravel the lies told long ago. (From the publisher.)
Many thanks to Dorothy Huges of The Dirty Dogs Book Club who submitted this book—and the Reading Guide—to LitLovers.
Author Bio
• Birth—February 2, 1970
• Where—Winchester, England, UK
• Education—Exeter University
• Currently—lives in London and Dummer Hampshire, Englad
Santa Montefiore is a British author, born in Winchester, England. Her parents are Charles Palmer-Tomkinson, formerly High Sheriff of Hampshire, and Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson (nee Dawson), of Anglo-Argentine background.
The family is a substantial land-owner in Leicestershire. Santa Montefiore said that growing up on the family farm gave her an "idyllic Swallows and Amazons childhood." She also describes her upbringing as "sheltered Sloaney."
Her father and other members of her family represented Great Britain in skiing at Olympic level. Her sister, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, is well known as an "It girl" and charity patron.
Education
She was educated at the Hanford School from the age of eight to twelve and then at the Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset where, in the sixth form, she became Head of her house (a role of responsibility similar to a prefect). She attended Exeter University where she read Spanish and Italian.
Career
Prior to publishing any novels, she worked in London, first in public relations for the outfitters Swaine Adeney and later for the jeweller Theo Fennell. She also worked as a shop assistant in Farmacia Santa Maria Novella, the perfumery, and in events for Ralph Lauren.
She sent her first manuscript to several literary agents, using a nom de plume in order to distance herself from her sister. Only one agent expressed an interest, but this led to a bidding war between several publishers, ending with a six-figure advance.
Since 2002, Montefiore has published at least one novel a year. Four of her books are set in Argentina, where she spent 1989 as a gap year teaching English. Her books have been characterised as "beach-read blockbusters," selling over two million copies in 20 translations.
She counts as her literary influences The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, and the authors Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Mary Wesley, Eckhart Tolle, and Daphne du Maurier. Isabel Allende is important to her as well.
Personal life
Montefiore is married to writer and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. They were brought together by the historian Andrew Roberts, who thought "they would be absolutely perfect for each other because they were the only two people he knew who could remember the words to "Evita" by heart." She says of their marriage:
Sebag and I do bring out the best in each other. I wouldn’t have written if not for him and he might not have written books either, as he was a ladies’ man, always chasing girls, but now his home life is stable and sorted. We write in the same house, in separate offices and he helps me with plots. I think you have to be a team. Laughter is everything. Mr Darcy would have been so boring to live with—you don’t want to live with someone who is smouldering all the time.
Santa converted to Judaism before the marriage. The wedding was held at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, with which her husband's family have been associated for generations. Their long-time friends, Charles, Prince of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, attended the wedding.
The Montefiores have two children, Lily and Sasha. They spend the week in London and the weekends at a house on her parents' estate at Dummer, Hampshire. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/7/2016 .)
Book Reviews
Heartwarming and believable.... [T]he perfect book to remind the reader of how love in the moment is all consuming, yet provides a wonderful memory and lessons later in life.
Portland Book Review
An epic romance...exquisite...the fictional island of Tekanasset and its colorful residents come to life with each turn of the page.
Associated Press
Lyrical...achingly beautiful...keep the tissue box handy.... Escapism on the highest order.
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. The Beekeeper’s Daughter opens with Rudyard Kipling’s “The Bee-Boy’s Song.” Why do you think Santa Montefiore chose to begin the book with this poem? How does it relate to the story? Discuss how bees play a major role throughout the book.
2. In the beginning of The Beekeeper’s Daughter, Belle Barlett, Evelyn Durlacher, Sally Pearson and Blythe Westrup are playing bridge at the golf course and gossiping about Trixie Valentine and Suzie Redford going off with a band for the weekend. Why do you think the women found this so scandalous?
3. What do you make of Big and her friendship with Grace? Does Big give Grace good advice? Discuss Big’s role in the lives of the Valentines.
4. Are her Trixie’s parents right to be concerned about her relationship with Jasper? Do you think their affair is true love or a summer fling? Why is Grace so protective of her daughter’s heart?
5. Grace has a close relationship with her father, Arthur. How has he influenced her? Do you think she would have married Freddie without his influence?
6. When Grace is fourteen, she meets Rufus Duncliffe, son and heir of the Marquess of Penselwood. Grace places a bee on Rufus and later Freddie. Describe how Rufus and Freddie react. Who do you think is better suited for Grace? Who does Grace truly love?
7. The Beekeeper’s Daughter follows two story lines—Grace’s and Trixie’s. Were you drawn to one more than the other? How are Grace and Trixie similar? How are they different?
8. When Jasper’s brother dies in a car accident, he must return to England. Jasper asks Trixie to wait for him. Grace cries when Trixie tells her the news, but for a different reason than Trixie thinks. Discuss why Grace reacts the ways she does?
9. Trixie never loved another man after Jasper. What qualities do you think Jasper possesses that Trixie never found in another man? Do you think it was typical in that time for a woman to entirely focused on her career and not marry?
10. Is there a theme to each part of the book? Was this an effective way to tell the story? Why or why not?
12. Duty comes up in several ways during the course of the novel. Big tells Grace, “It’s your duty as a wife to stand by his side on all matters.” To which Grace replies, “I do hate that word.” Discuss what duty to means to Grace, Rufus, Freddie, and Jasper. Has a sense of duty positively or negatively affected their lives?
14. When Grace is tending to her bees she often feels a presence. On her wedding day, Grace thinks she sees her mother. Where else do ghosts or spirits make an appearance in the novel? Discuss the importance of spirits in the novel.
15. We learn that Grace is dying from an inoperable brain tumor. Is the author drawing a connection between one’s health and avoiding the past?
16. Grace and Freddie are both holding on to the past and harboring secrets. Why do you think they keep their secrets for so long? Are there other characters with hidden pasts?
17. Grace’s and Trixie’s pasts collide in a surprising twist. What drives Trixie to uncover her mother’s past? How does Trixie confront her own past in the process?
18. Love is a major theme in the novel: romantic love, familial love, first love, lost love. Is it possible to be in love with two people at the same time? Do you think the characters in the book find the love they want?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)