by Maja Lunde
The History of Bees ends on a hopeful note. Why choose to add an element of hope to the dystopian future? How do you theorize the bees made a return?
Deep down I’m an optimist; therefore it would be wrong for me to end my novel without hope. As long as we have hope, we are also willing to take the steps we need to make our planet better and safer for children of the future.
I want the readers to have their own opinion about why the bees have come back . . . or . . . maybe they’ve been there the whole time?
What is something that readers can do to help combat Colony Collapse Disorder? What do you recommend people do if they’d like to help?
Keep bees. Plant bee-friendly flowers. And try to live as sustainable and green as you can. When Planet Earth is in trouble, the bees are in trouble. Everything is connected to everything—it’s as simple and difficult as that, really.
For which character in the novel—main or secondary—did you feel the most affinity? Affection? Annoyance?
I love the children in the book. Charlotte, Tom, and Wei-Wen. They’re the heroes of my story. And in them you find the hope.
I got annoyed with all my three main characters when writing, especially William. He could be quite irritating. But I also felt for them, understood them and loved them, and can’t decide which one is my favorite. It’s a bit like asking me which of my three kids I love the most. . . .
Are you working on another novel now? If so, can you tell us a little about it?
I am. And again I’m writing about parents and kids, past, present, future. And nature. Write where it burns, we say in Norway. This is where it burns for me.
You’ve written children’s books, YA books, and scripts. How did writing The History of Bees differ from those other undertakings?
Writing scripts for film and TV is different when it comes to language. The language is only a tool. But building characters and story is sort of the same. I also hear my novels are very easy to visualize for the reader. I guess it’s all my years working as a screenwriter that are coming through!
Writing for kids is like writing for the child inside me. Sometimes it’s more difficult than writing for adults, because I have to find her, the ten-year-old Maja. It’s not about being simpler or more childish, it’s about being more imaginative, more daring, perhaps. There’s little that gives more meaning to me than opening the door to the great adventures of books for young readers, and I’m constantly working on new books for children.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© ODA BERBY
MAJA LUNDE is a Norwegian author and screenwriter. Lunde has written nine books for children and young adults, as well as scripts for Norwegian television. The History of Bees is her first novel for adults and the first debut to win the prestigious Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize. She lives with her husband and three children in Oslo.
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Touchstone
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), AS
Originally published in Norwegian in 2015 as Bienes historie by Aschehoug, Oslo
Translation copyright © 2015 by Diane Oatley
Published by arrangement with Aschehoug Forlag
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Touchstone hardcover edition August 2017
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Interior design by Jill Putorti
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lunde, Maja, author.
Title: The history of bees : a novel / Maja Lunde.
Other titles: Bienes historie. English
Description: New York : Touchstone, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017007430 (print) | LCCN 2017010117 (ebook) | ISBN
9781501161377 (hardback) | ISBN 9781501161384 (tradepaper) | ISBN
9781501161391 (Ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Beekeepers—Fiction. | Bees—Fiction. | Extinction
(Biology)—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Literary. | FICTION / Historical. |
FICTION / Sagas.
Classification: LCC PT8952.22.U527 B5413 2017 (print) | LCC PT8952.22.U527
(ebook) | DDC 839.823/8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017007430
ISBN 978-1-5011-6137-7
ISBN 978-1-5011-6139-1 (ebook)