Here is the Beehive: Shortlisted for Popular Fiction Book of the Year in the AN Post Irish Book Awards

A strange kind of book for me; I can't say I enjoyed it all the way through but when I reached the end I look back on it fondly! This is the story of an extra-marital affair told in a different way. Ana and Connor had been having a fling for three years when he died. Ana is left in limbo; she can't grieve openly as no-one knew about their relationship but it's affecting her and she cannot leave it alone to the extent that she does the unthinkable and reaches out to Rebecca, his widow. This is a very quick read. I can't say I was very taken with the prose, but it does get the information across in a satisfactory way. I found it easy to sympathise with Ana whilst also being horrified at her actions. Trying to hold everything together without support is not easy - well, let's be honest here; it's hard to get over a sudden death even with the best of support from your nearest and dearest. This all comes across clearly - it's a very cleverly written novel, with maximum revelations for minimal reading. It's a grand story, and many an author would have padded it out into a much longer and possibly softer book and the jury is still out on whether I would pursue the same style of writing again. However, having enjoyed it overall I'm happy to decide on four stars.