The Murmur of Bees

Nana Reja finds a baby abandoned under a bridge, wrapped in a blanket of bees. The child is disfigured, and the Mexican town of Linares takes him for a sign of the devil. Some locals treat him as a matter of superstition and keep their distance.

Landowners Francisco and Beatriz Morales take the boy in. They adopt him, name him Simonopio and raise him as their own son.

As Simonopio grows, the Morales family comes to see that he is unusual. When he closes his eyes, he sees what is still to come, some of it beautiful and some of it dangerous. A swarm of bees follows him everywhere and guards him.

The novel is a family saga with a touch of magical realism, set in a small Mexican town. Simonopio's visions drive the plot: he uses them to shield his adoptive family from threats, whether they come from people or from nature. What his presence in Linares is for becomes clear only over time, so the pace is unhurried and the mood leans toward the mythic.