REVIEW: The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton

The Last Beekeeper Book Cover The Last Beekeeper
Julie Carrick Dalton
Women's Fiction
Forge Books
March 7, 2023
E-Book
384
NetGalley
January 31 - February 18, 2023

Julie Carrick Dalton's The Last Beekeeper is a celebration of found family, an exploration of truth versus power, and the triumph of hope in the face of despair.

"Fans of Delia Owens will swoon to find their new favorite author.” (Hank Phillippi Ryan)

It’s been more than a decade since the world has come undone, and Sasha Severn has returned to her childhood home with one goal in mind—find the mythic research her father, the infamous Last Beekeeper, hid before he was incarcerated. There, Sasha is confronted with a group of squatters who have claimed the quiet, idyllic farm as their own. While she initially feels threatened, the group soon becomes her newfound family, offering what she hasn't felt since her father was imprisoned: security and hope. Maybe it's time to forget the family secrets buried on the farm and focus on her future.

But just as she settles into her new life, Sasha witnesses the impossible. She sees a honey bee, presumed extinct. People who claim to see bees are ridiculed and silenced for reasons Sasha doesn't understand, but she can't shake the feeling that this impossible bee is connected to her father's missing research. Fighting to uncover the truth could shatter Sasha's fragile security and threaten the lives of her newfound family—or it could save them all.

Julie Carrick Dalton's The Last Beekeeper is a celebration of found family, an exploration of truth versus power, and the triumph of hope in the face of despair. It is a meditation on forgiveness and redemption and a reminder to cherish the beauty that still exists in this fragile world.

Review

This book stole my heart. 

The Last Beekepeeris the story of Sasha, the daughter of the world’s last known beekeeper. The story takes place in the future, after we terrible humans have killed all of the pollinators with the use of pesticides and GMOs. The story takes place a decade or so after the last of the bees, the last of all of the pollinators, have died. Without pollinators, the food system collapsed. People starved; died.

Sasha’s father was keeping bees illegally, and due to an extremely unfortunate event, was discovered and put on trial and sent to prison, leaving 11-year old Sasha to live first with her uncle, and then in a group home. Fast forward, Sasha has aged out of the system and has returned home to the farmhouse her grandparents built, which had been seized by the government upon her fathers imprisonment and has been empty and neglected all the years she’s been gone. 

It’s at her old home that Sasha finds a group of squatters who reluctantly let her stay for a week, which turns into a month, and so on. All the while, Sasha keeps her true identity a secret. She’s only gone home to find the research she knowsher father has hidden somewhere on the property. If her new found-family finds out who she is, she fears they’ll turn on her and kick her out. She’s spent her whole life being hated for being the daughter of the Last Beekeeper. 

This book gave me a whole range of feels from sadness to optimism to anger to joy. Overall though, this book gave me a sense of peace and calm. The world Sasha lives in is depressing and difficult, but at the same time, she’s living the simple life. She’s tending her garden to feed her and her friends, she’s riding a bike to get around. It just sounds… peaceful. Plus, Sasha’s connection to the bees throughout her childhood is beautiful. I’m terrified of bees, but this book has made me respect them just a little more.

Chapters alternate between Sasha as a 20-something, and Sasha as a child. Slowly we learn what led to her fathers imprisonment. And the other secrets he’s harboring. 

This is a beautiful book. I would absolutely read this again and will recommend it to everyone.

The Last Beekeeper is on it’s way to being my top read of 2023, and the year has barely started! 

3 thoughts on “REVIEW: The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton

  1. Pingback: February 2023 Round Up | Caroline Andrus

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