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Little Bee by Chris Cleave is the fourth book we’ve read from The Bestseller Code‘s 100 Bestsellers List and yet again, we are presented with a novel that is quite unlike the previous books we’ve read. Little Bee is a 16-year-old female refugee whom we first meet in an Immigration Detention Centre in England, although we don’t learn her exact age until quite late in the book.
Little Bee’s story is a difficult one to read – you know something horrific happened in her Nigerian homeland, and while she can hardly bear to relate the events, facing those horrific memories, along with the resulting pain and emotional turmoil, is integral to her story. She must face it all, and so, thus, must we.
The second main character is Sarah Summers, a thirtyish magazine editor living in a London suburb, whose life became intertwined with Little Bee’s when Sarah and her husband were “on holiday” in Nigeria. She, too, has her own memories to face and life decisions to make. Can Little Bee & Sarah deal with their past? And, if so, how will their decisions impact their futures?
I cannot remember when I last felt this emotional while reading a novel.
Read the rest of my review over at It’s A Mystery Blog.