Our February book choice, ‘Grey Bees’ by Andrey Kurkov, took us to Ukraine after Russia’s capture of Crimea in 2014. The story focuses on Sergey Sergeyich and his life in the ‘grey zone’, the area between which the Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists are fighting. Most inhabitants of the ‘grey zone’ left at the start of hostilities and only Sergey and his ‘frenemy’, Pashka, are left. Sergey’s daily existence is decidedly grey, with below zero temperatures, no electricity and little in the way of food; his wife and young daughter have already left him but, although he is lonely, he makes the most of the situation and gradually learns to get along with Pashka, the two men becoming increasingly dependent on one another. Sergey’s great passion is his bees and eventually he is forced to move them away from the shelling to allow them to fly freely, collect pollen and make honey. This adventure, ending in Crimea, introduces him to civilians and combatants on both sides: loyalists, separatists, Russian occupiers and Crimean Tatars. Sergey tries to remain neutral but, when an old Muslim acquaintance, Akhtem, disappears, he finds himself caught up in the Crimean Tatars’ struggle to combat and escape oppression by the new Russian authorities.
The Ukrainian author’s intention was to focus on the ‘inconspicuous people of the Donbas’ and most of our group thought that his writing was a true insight into their lives and particularly pertinent as the war extends into its third year.
Louise Elsome,
‘Bookworms’ Group Coordinator