The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Nuri keeps bees in Aleppo, and his wife Afra paints. Their life in the Syrian city is simple and full of family and friends, until war destroys everything they care about and forces them to leave.

What Afra has witnessed is so terrible that she has lost her sight. With her blind and him carrying the weight of what they have lost, the two set out on a dangerous trek through Turkey and Greece. Their hope is a future in Britain, though nothing about it is certain.

This is a contemporary novel about refugees, following one married couple on foot and on the road across a broken world. The danger along the way is real, and so is the grief that each of them carries. The distance that grows between husband and wife is part of the trouble: they must find their way back to each other as well as to a safe place.

Expect a serious, emotional read that stays close to two ordinary people whose lives have been overturned. The mood is dark and sorrowful, with hope kept alive by the bond between Nuri and Afra.