Little Bee, by Chris Cleave

My friend was flabbergasted when she learned I hadn’t read Little Bee and she sternly ordered me to go home and read it NOW.

Susan you were so right. Why did I wait so long to read this?

This novel takes place in the summer of 2007, when Little Bee, a sixteen-year-old Nigerian immigrant escapes a UK detention center with little more than her wits, the clothes on her back, and a few fellow refugees. Her plan is to locate and live with Andrew and Sarah O’Rourke, former acquaintances from Ibeno Beach, where they shared a horrifying encounter two years prior.  Simultaneously, Bee makes plans for numerous suicide options for “when the men come”.  Bee and Sarah narrate, sharing their stories and their lies.  The horrific beach incident is eventually revealed but not without some major surprises.

The storyline gallops forward, but try not to read this book too quickly as the writing is exquisite.  The biggest surprise in the novel is the humor – an endearing humor that warms up the stark realities facing Bee, who is an old soul, wise beyond her years.  “Imagine a young woman cut out from a smiling ‘Save the Children’ magazine advertisement, who dresses herself in threadbare pink clothes from the recycling bin in your local supermarket car park and speaks English like the leader column of The Times.” 

This is a story of survival, interspersed with cruel reality, surprising plot twists, unforeseen revelations, humor and tragedy.  I loved it.

A great quote from Sarah about her husband (spoiler warning here):   “There was no quick grief for Andrew because he had been so slowly lost.  First from my heart, then from my mind and only and finally from my life.”