The Beekeeper's Promise

by Fiona Valpy

We meet Eliane in 2017 when she is tending bees.  She is in her 90s.

We meet Abi next, also in 2017, as she tells us her story.  We see that Abi is emotionally lost.  We later learn that she was in an abusive marriage and in a horrible car accident and is just now beginning to heal.  She has come to France with a friend to attend a yoga retreat and ends up taking on employment at the chateau where Eliane lived during World War II. 

We learn Eliane’s story, beginning in 1938 through a narrator.  She was a keeper of bees, a tender of gardens, and quietly did what she could to support’s France’s resistance effort.  The story goes through the end of World War II. 

As Abi learns of Eliane’s story, she gathers strength and courage. 

This was mostly clean—no language or sex, but there was a scene briefly telling the results of Nazi violence.

I'm not a huge fan of books with dual time-lines and major characters, but I thought the author managed both well in this book.

I keep saying I’m done with WWII stories, and then another falls in my lap, and I learn some other experience from the war, of the courage and strength of those who lived through it and see how they can impact others’ and my own life.  I’m definitely glad I read this one.

Quotes
Abi:  “That’ll teach me to be spontaneous, I think, as I trudge along the hot tarmac of the road.  Nothing good ever comes of it.”    p. 6 ¶1

Lisette, Eliane’s mother, before helping several Jewish people past German checkpoints: 
“She put her hand gently on [her husband’s] and smiled at him, although there was a sadness behind the smile.  ‘You know, Gustave, my attitude has always been to try to carry on as normal, ignoring the war as much as possible, just concentrating on getting my family and my patients safely through it.  But there’s a question I ask myself every day.’  She looked past him, out of the window towards the weir.  ‘When do you cross the line?  What does it take to reach that point?  For your country to be threatened?  Your way of life?  Your neighbours’ homes?  Or you own?  For your friends to be in danger?  Or your children?’  She turned back to face him.  ‘Every one of us has to make that decision for ourselves.  Whether we win or lose this war, we will have to live with the consequences of our decisions.  I’ve asked myself:  “What will be on your conscience when all this is over?  What will your decision be when you get to that crossing point?”  Well, I’m at that crossing point now.  And I’ve made my decision.  Just as all of you –‘ she glanced around at Eliane, Yves and Jacques – ‘have done already.’”  [I forgot to note the page and paragraph for this quote.]

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