We would end up with nothing but biographies and memoirs on our shelves. If we could only write about our own lived personal experience, reading and writing, would be a much less rich experience. However I do not believe that only transgender people can write a story with a transgender character. This is important and necessary and will hopefully occur more and more as time goes by. I understand the desire and need for transgender people to tell their own stories, in their own words, in their own time. Silvey’s story encourages empathy and understanding for transgender people (and for old lonely widowers). In the context of a YA novel, nobody minded this, but there were times when we were all left wanting a more nuanced exploration of the topic. Like Jasper Jones, the book has a teen narrator, which means that at times the story felt quite simplistic and even dull. One of the less than glowing comments from book club centred around the young adult nature of the story. It’s about when to persevere, and when to be merciful, as Sam learns when to let go, and when to hold on. It’s about two lives forever changed by a chance encounter - one offering hope, the other redemption.

Honeybee is a tender, profoundly moving novel brimming with vivid characters and luminous words. Honeybee is a heart-breaking, life-affirming novel that throws us headlong into a world of petty thefts, extortion plots, botched bank robberies, daring dog rescues, and one spectacular drag show.Īt the heart of Honeybee is Sam: a solitary, resilient young person battling to navigate the world as their true self ensnared by a loyalty to a troubled mother, scarred by the volatility of a domineering step-father, and confounded by the kindness of new alliances. Bonded by their suffering, each privately commits to the impossible task of saving the other. Slowly, we learn what led Sam and Vic to the bridge that night. A fateful connection is made, and an unlikely friendship blooms. Late in the night, fourteen-year-old Sam Watson steps onto a quiet overpass, climbs over the rail, and looks down at the road far below.Īt the other end of the same bridge, an old man, Vic, smokes his last cigarette. Yet I’m still reluctant to sit down and write this. Book club met last Thursday and generated lots of discussion. I’ve debriefed with Mr Books who read the book last year, and with one of my colleagues who read the book before Christmas. It has taken me almost as long to write this response! I’m enormously proud of it,” Silvey said in the SMH on the 10th June 2020. It tore me up, but it filled me with joy. “ I put everything I have into writing Honeybee. It has taken Silvey over ten years to write this book, after the huge success of his second book, Jasper Jones back in 2009. Honeybee by Craig Silvey is my first book club read for 2021.

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