From the Publisher
If we somehow manage to save the planet from ourselves, it will be because of big-hearted beautiful books like this one, that make us feel the devastating cost of our current climate inaction. Not just the planet-wide consequences, but the human-scale ones as well. Gripping and powerful.” — Sam J. Miller, Nebula Award Winning author of Blackfish City
“Lyrical, atmospheric, and eerily prescient, The End of the Ocean is my favorite kind of speculative fiction. Lunde expertly weaves together both a warning and a gorgeous literary work of love and survival that will leave you wishing for rain.” — Christina Dalcher, national bestselling author of Vox
“Imagine The Leftovers, but with honey.” — Elle on The History of Bees
“Without ever banging an apocalyptic drum, Lunde paints an achingly pure picture of what happens if we fail to protect the bees, our biospheric conscience, our fragile, sacred spinners of gold.” — Jacquelyn Mitchard, New York Times bestselling author, on The History of Bees
“As a lover of honeybees and a fan of speculative fiction, I was doubly smitten by The History of Bees. Maja Lunde’s novel is an urgent reminder of how much our survival depends on those remarkable insects. It is also a gripping account of how—despite the cruelest losses—humanity may abide and individual families can heal.” — Jean Hegland, author of Still Time and Into the Forest, on The History of Bees
“By turns devastating and hopeful, The History of Bees resonates powerfully with our most pressing environmental concerns. Following three separate but interconnected timelines, Lunde shows us the past, the present, and a terrifying future in a riveting story as complex as a honeycomb.” — Bryn Greenwood, New York Times bestselling author, on The History of Bees
“Two stories on the impact of climate change intersect in this thoughtful and suspenseful novel… Both halves of the story are convincingly detailed and quietly wrenching, and Lunde gradually and subtly draws them together to powerful effect.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“ As the water crisis gets worse, the desperation echoes the extremities of Emily St. John Mandel’s postapocalyptic Station Eleven (2014). In a gripping narrative, Lunde portrays the profit-motivated decisions that created and are now exacerbating David’s horrific existence. This is another brilliant call to arms from a vital contemporary novelist.” — ALA Booklist
ALA Booklist
As the water crisis gets worse, the desperation echoes the extremities of Emily St. John Mandel’s postapocalyptic Station Eleven (2014). In a gripping narrative, Lunde portrays the profit-motivated decisions that created and are now exacerbating David’s horrific existence. This is another brilliant call to arms from a vital contemporary novelist.
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Without ever banging an apocalyptic drum, Lunde paints an achingly pure picture of what happens if we fail to protect the bees, our biospheric conscience, our fragile, sacred spinners of gold.
Elle on The History of Bees
Imagine The Leftovers, but with honey.
Bryn Greenwood
By turns devastating and hopeful, The History of Bees resonates powerfully with our most pressing environmental concerns. Following three separate but interconnected timelines, Lunde shows us the past, the present, and a terrifying future in a riveting story as complex as a honeycomb.
Sam J. Miller
If we somehow manage to save the planet from ourselves, it will be because of big-hearted beautiful books like this one, that make us feel the devastating cost of our current climate inaction. Not just the planet-wide consequences, but the human-scale ones as well. Gripping and powerful.
Christina Dalcher
Lyrical, atmospheric, and eerily prescient, The End of the Ocean is my favorite kind of speculative fiction. Lunde expertly weaves together both a warning and a gorgeous literary work of love and survival that will leave you wishing for rain.
Jean Hegland
As a lover of honeybees and a fan of speculative fiction, I was doubly smitten by The History of Bees. Maja Lunde’s novel is an urgent reminder of how much our survival depends on those remarkable insects. It is also a gripping account of how—despite the cruelest losses—humanity may abide and individual families can heal.
Elle on The History of Bees
Imagine The Leftovers, but with honey.
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2019-10-14
Two stories on the impact of climate change intersect in this thoughtful and suspenseful novel.
In 2017, feisty Norwegian journalist and environmental activist Signe, "an aging woman, a little shabby and unkempt in a worn-out parka," returns to a hometown that has been changed for the worse by the building of a dam that harnesses what used to be a beautiful waterfall to produce hydroelectric power. A nearby glacier is vanishing, and to add insult to injury, Signe's estranged lover Magnus, now a capitalist, is sending large quantities of the ice to Saudi Arabia as a luxury item. With the help of a sailboat she has owned since childhood, Signe conceives a plan to shame Magnus. Her story alternates with that of 25-year-old David, who, in 2041 France, has been forced to take up residency with his 6-year-old daughter, Lou, in a refugee camp for those attempting to escape a drought that has been going on for five years. He is hoping against hope that his wife and infant son will join them there and that then they will be able to make their way to the "water countries" up north, but they haven't been seen since the fire that destroyed their town. Both halves of the story are convincingly detailed and quietly wrenching, and Norwegian author Lunde (The History of Bees, 2017) gradually and subtly draws them together to powerful effect. Signe's story moves between her earlier life, clearly revealing how it shaped the woman she is, and her present struggles as she navigates a tiny sailboat on the ocean. David's story widens out to include other residents in the camp as it slides into an increasing state of chaos and as David and Lou begin to come to terms with a new normal and find their way out of the camp and into the countryside.
Global problems soundly grounded in the particular.
