Product Details
Simon & Schuster, February 2010
Trade Paperback, 304 pages
ISBN-10: 1416589643
ISBN-13: 9781416589648
Book Club Pick
Get the reading group guideNational Bestseller
Awards and Nominations
- ALA Notable Book
Description
WE DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.
It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.
Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:
It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.
The story starts there, but the book doesn't.
And it's what happens afterward that is most important.
Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.
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1. Meet Novelist Chris Cleave02:4656348199001
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"Book clubs in search of the next Kite Runner need look no further than this astonishing, flawless novel... Cleave (Incendiary) effortlessly moves between alternating viewpoints with lucid, poignant prose and the occasional lighter note. A tension-filled dramatic ending and plenty of moral dilemmas add up to a satisfying, emotional read."
-- Library Journal
"Little Bee will blow you away.... In restrained, diamond-hard prose, Cleave alternates between these two characters' points of view as he pulls the threads of their dark -- but often funny -- story tight. What unfolds between them... is both surprising and inevitable, thoroughly satisfying if also heart-rending."
-- Washington Post
"Utterly enthralling page-turner... Novelist Cleave does a brilliant job of making both characters not only believable but memorable.... These compelling voices grip the reader's heart and do not let go even after the book's hyper-tense final page. Little Bee is a harrowing and heartening marvel of a novel."
-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Every now and then, you come across a character in a book whose personality is so salient and whose story carries such devastating emotional force it's as if she becomes a fixed part of your consciousness. So it is with the charmingly named title character in Chris Cleave's brilliant and unforgettable Little Bee..."
-- The Oregonian
"London journalist Cleave's memories of a job feeding asylum-seekers in a U.K. detention center inform this stunning work.... With wry humor, Cleave unravels Bee's tangled history with Sarah, an Englishwoman with deep revelations of her own..."
-- People (Four Stars and a People Pick)
"...a psychologically charged story of grief, globalization and an unlikely friendship...Cleave's narrative pulses with portentous, nearly spectral energy..."
-- Kirkus
"The voice that speaks from the first page of Chris Cleave's Little Bee is one you might never have heard -- the voice of a smart, wary, heartsick immigrant scarred by the terrors of her past.... Read this urgent and wryly funny novel for its insights into simple humanity, the force that can disarm fear."
-- O Magazine
"...Little Bee is a loud shout of talent."
-- Chicago Sun-Times
"Cleave is a nerves-of-steel storyteller of stealthy power, and this is a novel as resplendent and menacing as life itself."
-- Booklist (starred review)
"The charge, then: buy this book. Resist opening it until you are ready to start reading, for once you begin you'll find yourself unable to stop. ... Prepare yourself for Cleave's poignancy, his control, and the pathos he so effortlessly evinces. Expect astonishment, for this is a work inspiring in depth and style; a work that alters perceptions."
-- Bookslut
"Little Bee will amaze and delight you, and break your heart. It's one of the finest books I've read in years, from its lyrical opening lines to its surprising end....If I were still a bookseller, I'd sell Little Bee with a money-back guarantee."
-- Shelf Awareness.com
"Cleave has created a true page-turner, one that leaves the reader asking for more even after the final pages have been read. This is a book not to be missed."
-- Belleville Intelligencer (Ontario, Canada)
"Besides sharp, witty dialogue, an emotionally charged plot and the vivid characters' ethical struggles, Little Bee delivers a timely challenge to reinvigorate our notions of civilised decency."
-- The Independent (UK)
"An ambitious and fearless gallop from the jungles of Africa via a shocking encounter on a Nigerian beach to the media offices of London and domesticity in leafy suburbia...Cleave immerses the reader in the worlds of his characters with an unshakable confidence."
-- The Guardian (UK)
"Searingly eloquent."
-- The Daily Mail (UK)
"It would be a disservice to give away the powerful conclusion of this absorbing and gutsy story, which deals convincingly with ethical and personal accountability."
-- Oxford Times (UK)
"An ambitious and fearless gallop from the jungles of Africa via a shocking encounter on a Nigerian beach to the media offices of London and domesticity in leafy suburbia...Cleave immerses the reader in the worlds of his characters with an unshakable confidence."
-- The Guardian (UK)
"Searingly eloquent."
-- The Daily Mail (UK)
"It would be a disservice to give away the powerful conclusion of this absorbing and gutsy story, which deals convincingly with ethical and personal accountability."
-- Oxford Times (UK)
"...a psychologically charged story of grief, globalization and an unlikely friendship...Cleave's narrative pulses with portentous, nearly spectral energy..."
-- Kirkus
Deseret Morning News, February 20, 2010
...'LITTLE BEE,' by Chris Cleave, Simon & Schuster, 304 pages, $14 (reprint) Some books have a way of capturing a reader's attention from their opening paragraphs. 'Little Bee' by ...
Wicked Local Mattapoisett, February 17, 2010
...m. for coffee, tea, and book talk. The upcoming book for discussion on March 11 and 13 is “Little Bee” by Chris Cleave. April’s selections will include poetry reads and activities. May’s selections will be memoirs by Carolyn Heilbrun ...
Suite101.com, February 12, 2010
...Bestselling Novel by the Author of Incendiary Also known as Little Bee, The Other Hand is a captivating, if somewhat flawed, tale of a young Nigerian refugee and her relationship with a British woman. The publishers of the paperback version ...
Oprah.com, January 4, 2010
...Please enter your friend's e-mail address(es), your name and e-mail address. Click 'send' when you are done. * = required field * To: E-mail Address (multiple addresses: use commas to separate) * From: Your Name Your E-mail Address ...
Winston-Salem Journal, January 3, 2010
...by first-person narrator Robert Petkoff, in a brilliant performance. Rounding out my best audio fiction of 2009 was Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Tantor Audio, $34.99), in which author Cleave builds an unusual and moving story of British ...
Quad-Cities Online, January 2, 2010
...presence in American architecture, his flamboyant style and his penchant for collecting women; as wives, mistresses and acolytes. "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster). This novel uses the emotionally gripping friendship between ...
Los Angeles Daily News, December 28, 2009
...presence in American architecture, his flamboyant style and his penchant for collecting women; as wives, mistresses and acolytes. 'Little Bee' by Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster). This novel uses the emotionally gripping friendship between ...
Missoulian, December 20, 2009
...Mexico to resolve a family myth is entertaining, witty, stirring and the best debut novel of the year. “Little Bee” by Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster, 271 pages, $24) A story of a London magazine editor and a Nigerian immigrant thrown ...
Oxford Mail, December 4, 2009
...ANDREW FFRENCH considers what inspired author Chris Cleave to write our latest Book of the Month. WHAT would you do? That’s the question at the heart of The Other Hand, The Guide’s latest choice for ...
Otago Daily Times, October 29, 2009
...this book don't see it like that. My other great read this week is the mysteriously named Little Bee, about a Nigerian asylum seeker in Britain. Chris Cleave, who wrote Incendiary, is the author, and I have been trying to get hold of his new ...
Valley Echo, October 27, 2009
...00 PM commentWrite(o) For something a little heavier than the summer reads I suggest the new book “Little Bee” by Chris Cleave. This story of a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee is heavy on the heart and beautifully written ...
The Argonaut, October 17, 2009
...Little Bee by Chris Cleave has been selected as the featured book for the 2010 Santa Monica Citywide Reads program. Citywide Reads is a community reading program that invites the public ...
Star News Online, August 3, 2009
...a sexually charged novel. 'Jericho's Fall' by Stephen L Carter - An intense, beautifully written espionage novel. 'Little Bee' by Chris Cleave - This is the story of two women whose lives collide one fateful day and one of them has to make a ...
National Post, July 15, 2009
...Of the many books I've read this year, none has stayed with me quite as much as Little Bee (or , as published in the UK). In his second novel, Chris Cleave uses chiaroscuro to keep a dark subject ? an orphaned political asylum seeker ? ...
Star-Telegram, May 30, 2009
...more than compensated for by Nwaubani?s storytelling skill and the sharp pair of eyes she lends us. Chris Cleave?s most recent novel is Little Bee. I Do Not Come to You by Chance *** by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani ...
USA Today, April 29, 2009
...world of The Stranger, with Max Frei, magical secret agent. See what all the buzz is about in Little Bee and who is Haunting Bombay. Plus debut novel The Vagrants. The Stranger By Max Frei Overlook, 544 pp., $27.95 Max Frei is the ...
The Age, April 20, 2009
...for rights to the book, a British newspaper reported on Sunday. The Other Hand, by little-known London author Chris Cleave, sold just 3,000 copies when it came out in hardback last year. But in the past two months, 100,000 copies have been ...
Byron Shire News, April 19, 2009
...for rights to the book, a British newspaper reported on Sunday. The Other Hand, by little-known London author Chris Cleave, sold just 3000 copies when it came out in hardback last year. But in the past two months, 100,000 copies have been ...
San Francisco Chronicle, April 17, 2009
...An English author corresponds with members of a literary club formed while their island was under German occupation. LITTLE BEE, Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster; 288 pages; $24): A British couple encounter two orphan girls fleeing from ...
CBC, April 8, 2009
... 'Most days,' sighs the narrator in Chris Cleave's new novel, Little Bee, 'I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl.' As far as pipe dreams go, it's as idiosyncratic as ...
Business Standard India, March 28, 2009
...begins The Other Hand, a narrative that grips you almost immediately. The story of a Nigerian girl ? Little Bee is the name she assumes to escape mercenary killers in her own country, Nigeria ? who finds her way to the UK as an illegal ...
Hamilton Spectator, March 21, 2009
...book page feature: Truth in critical reviewing. Rare is the book that presents the critical dilemma posed by Chris Cleave's powerhouse new novel, Little Bee. This utterly enthralling page-turner boasts no less than seven shocking ...
Belleville Intelligencer, March 16, 2009
...Chris Cleave's debut novel, Incendiary won the 2006 Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Now, Cleave is back with his newest book, Little Bee. Once ...
Chicago Sun-Times, March 8, 2009
...Chris Cleave is destiny's child, granted not the favorite. Cleave's first novel, Incendiary, about an al-Qaeda attack on a London football stadium, arrived in bookstores on the morning of ...
The Oregonian, March 6, 2009
...has kidnapped you through some combination of originality, completeness of vision and sheer brilliance. Such a novel is 'Little Bee,' the second by British journalist Chris Cleave. Little Bee is a 16-year-old Nigerian girl just sprung from a ...
Oxford Times, February 27, 2009
...Chris Cleave?s novels deal with political violence and personal tragedy on both a national and a domestic scale. His first, Incendiary, about the bombing of the Arsenal football stadium, was ...
Toronto Star Online, February 16, 2009
...Until last year, the U.K. reading public largely knew Chris Cleave as the author of Incendiary, a debut novel about an imaginary terrorist assault on London that happened to come out on the very same day as the July 7 ...
Guardian Unlimited, February 14, 2009
...a beach forces them to make a life-or-death decision with momentous consequences. In alternate chapters, 16-year-old asylum seeker Little Bee and magazine editor Sarah O'Rourke recount their versions of events. It is the authenticity of ...
Globe and Mail, February 13, 2009
...of the way we have treated one another, which is part of the argument put forward by author Chris Cleave in his extraordinary novel Little Bee. Cleave, 34, represents the flipside to his country's black female writers: Where women like Diana ...
Seattle Times, February 13, 2009
...'Little Bee by Chris Cleave Simon & Schuster, 271 pp., $24 Every now and then, you come across a character in a book whose personality is so salient and whose ...
Blogcritics.org, February 4, 2009
...the activities that have put your life at risk. This is the case that the title character of Chris Cleave's most recent release, Little Bee, available from February10th 2009, finds herself in. When deposits of crude oil are discovered under ...
Library Journal, January 23, 2009
...Book clubs in search of the next Kite Runner need look no further than this astonishing, flawless novel about what happens when ordinary, mundane Western lives are thrown into stark contrast against the terrifying realities of war-torn ...
Chris Cleave's Books
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IncendiaryA tragicomic open letter to Osama Bin Laden from a young London woman whose husband and son are killed in a terrorist attack on a soccer stadium.Read More
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