The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri *****

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri intertwines two threads of Nuri Ibrahim’s journey from war-torn Syria to Yorkshire England: the brutal trip from Aleppo to refugee housing in England and the ordeal of asylum approval. After reliving Nuri’s nightmare, I realized that he was privileged. “You’re lucky you’re rich,” and “You’re English is very good.” To imagine the plight of the others is awful.

Before the war in Syria Nuri Ibrahim and his cousin Mustafa had a successful beekeeping business in Aleppo. During the hostilities, their business was destroyed. Nuri and Afra lost their two-year-old son Sami. Mustafa and Dahab lost their twelve-year-old son Firas. Mustafa’s family, wife and daughter Aya, made it safely to England before Nuri could convince Afra to leave the place where her son died and she was blinded.

The existence of a refugee is consumed by survival and waiting. In between brief instances of terror, such as crossing from Turkey to Greece in a small boat and nearly drowning, time is filled with finding food and shelter and navigating the bureaucracies. In addition to Nuri’s financial resources and English-language skills, he also benefits because Syrian refugees are given priority. Throughout his travels, he meets others who are not from Syria and might never move forward.

Nuri left the brutality of the war in Syria where boys were lined up and shot one by one before dumping their bodies in the river. His escape continued the violence with people drowning and boys being sold for sex, but it is mixed with a bit of hope, especially for Syrians, with money and fluent English. Even so, he does not avoid the savagery with murder and rape touching his family.

The book is beautifully written, but difficult to read. A heart-rending tale of how refugees struggle to find a better life.

“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.