Christy Lefteri

Thousands upon thousands of men, women and children are currently fleeing their war torn homelands every day, around the world. Leaving with whatever they can carry and vivid images of unspeakable horrors fresh in their minds they place themselves in the hands of people smugglers and refugee camps, clinging onto the hope of finding safety and asylum wherever they can.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo tells the story of Nuri’s journey from the once beautiful, now bombed out Syrian city of Aleppo to join his cousin Mustafa in the United Kingdom whatever the cost. By car through sniper infested territories and across rivers. By bus and over-crowded, ill-equipped rubber dinghies across choppy, ink-black seas. Crammed apartments, container camps, park life and people smugglers. Istanbul, Athens and beyond.

Beautifully written and heart-wrenchingly sad, Christy Lefteri finds a balance between unimaginable darkness and the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. The sights and smells of apiaries and honey, the vista of shimmering domes and deserts and the heady aroma of soaps and roses collide with the life-changing traumas suffered by Nuri and his artist wife Afra. I loved the way the narrative switched between Nuri’s past, present and the interlinking journey of both perilous miles crossed and his personal voyage of self-discovery and re-discovering his relationship with Afra.

Based on true stories overheard by the author from her time as a volunteer at a UNICEF refugee centre in Athens, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is deeply moving, thought-provoking and highly recommended.… (lisätietoja)

“One day, Nisha vanished and turned to gold.”
Working all hours God sends yet still unable to survive, Nisha is forced to leave her mother, baby daughter and Sri Lanka behind when she accepts a job in Cyprus as a maid and nanny through an agency for migrant domestic workers. 9 years later she disappears into thin air.
I love how Nisha is brought to life through the recollections of Petra, her employer and single working mother, and Yiannis, her lover and songbird poacher, in alternating chapters as they question both those close to her and themselves in their quest to find her.
The descriptions of the Cypriot landscape, lime sticks and mist nets, gem mines and street stalls and the diverse neighbourhood in divided Nicosia are sublime.
The soul-wrenching stories within stories of freedom and entrapment, motherhood and love, suffering and loss, what ifs and if onlys are inspired.
The inhumane treatment of migrant domestic workers is an underlying theme throughout the novel and the author’s closing letter emphasises the reality of this widespread discrimination.
Hauntingly sad and beautifully written Songbirds left me with feelings of hope and resolution and … Christine McVie’s Songbird playing in my head.… (lisätietoja)

The family of Tasso, Irini and Chasa experience a fire that spreads through the forest they live in. The fire destroys everything they and their neighbours know, taking family and friends with it. We watch as Irini finds out who caused the fire, and why he took his own life.

The novel is such a great reminder that life is precious, human and our earth, and how it needs to be taken care of so much more than we do. As a daughter, there is many quotes and chapters that hit so hard because the mother in the novel is doing what she can to protect her daughter of what life does to them.

So impactful, even recommended it to a teacher, great read truly, this is my first ARC read and I did not expect to read something that I feel will leave me thinking, but I am glad I did.… (lisätietoja)