The Bees by Laline Paull

"Flora 717 is a worker bee born into the lowest caste of her totalitarian hive society. Though prepared to sacrifice everything for the Queen and work herself to death, she is a survivor who escapes internal massacres, religious purges, and can even successfully confront a huge marauding wasp. With each act of bravery her status grows, revealing both the enemies within, and the sinister secrets that rule the hive. But when Flora’s devotion to a life of service is overwhelmed by fierce and forbidden maternal love, she must break the most sacred law of all, and embark on a collision course with everything she holds most dear."

This book is amazing. As soon as I picked it up I was engrossed in the story of Flora 717 and the inhabitants of her hive. It's a beautiful story, almost a bee fairy tale, which I promise you won't be able to put down. It tells the tales of a hive in a beautiful way and you leave the pages with an understanding of what bees do and how a hive works. You feel their fear, their happiness and understand what the world is like for them. Now some may say it's not technically accurate (like bees don't see in colour) but I never thought I'd love a book so much where all the characters are insects and the vast majority of the story is set in one little hive. The book connects readers to the life of honey bees in a magical way, as a beekeeper it's made me appreciate every bee even more (which I didn't think was possible), I see them as little characters and I honestly recommend it, pick it up, read it, you'll love it!