Oh my goodness, what a wonderful book this is. The storyline about grief is so beautifully handled and the way in which it is interwoven with facts about the bees is sublime. Perfect writing. Thank you.

A feeling...grief explained and written in the most tender, crafted way 🍯. This book doesn’t just talk about loss, it breathes it, in quiet sighs and aching silence. I found myself wondering...is love truly this strong? Strong enough to carry the weight of a lifetime, strong enough to cradle grief that rises like tides 🌊 and falls like whispered prayers.

Hannah’s life at Berllan Deg is steeped in memory...of her husband, the orchard, and the bees that hummed through every moment. As she reads the eleven letters her husband left behind...eleven, like the frames in a hive 🐝...we unravel not just a love story, but a lifetime of truth, pain, and quiet reckoning. Each letter stung and soothed in equal measure...a reminder that love is rarely perfect, but it is real. Raw. Sometimes cruel. Always human.

When her estranged sister Sadie returns for the funeral, the house fills with past hurt, unspoken words, and a chance...just a chance...to start again 🌿. It’s not just about mourning a man, but about learning how to live again. How to reclaim the pieces of yourself you buried to be someone else’s home. The imagery, the emotional gravity, the prose like honey slowly pouring over old wounds...it lingers.

If grief could take form, Bitter Honey would be it...
bittersweet, sticky with memory, golden with hope 🍁.

A beautifully written but very sad tale which I think I was just not in the best frame of mind for reading. However it is one I can recommend and I know exactly the people I know who will love it.

Bitter Honey blew me away. Yes I cried. It was beautifully written with lyrical prose and heart. The way the author deals with grief, family dynamics and life is a marvel. The tender life of bees is celebrated and used as metaphor throughout as well. It’s not just about the bees though, nature is used wonderfully and I have a new appreciation for apples. This is the kind of book you want to savour as you read, highlighting the beauty and pain. Overall it leaves you feeling hopeful and that it’s ok to just be yourself, The characters felt real, each had their own path and made it feel ok for you to have yours too. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Whilst Hannah deals with grief and shock at the same time she is also given a chance to rebuild but the question is how we rebuild once our foundation has been shifted.

such a beautiful book. i dont know how some authors do it. but they do, make their words, their stories feel like they are flowing through you. there a seamless and tender beauty. you know when people say some people glide into a room. well, some books glide into the room. and they stick in your heart with the details and way they can make you feel.
this book is about so much love. its tells it so well. and so then the other side of that has to be about grief. and again this is told just as well. i was totally involved in this book and couldnt stop. i wanted to know Hannah's story and I wanted to hear her words.
this book is just perfect. the pace. the characterizations and the length. i swept through it but in the best of ways.

What a thoughtful, sensitive book which I enjoyed.

Hannah husband has just passed away after 50yrs of marriage when her already fragmented world is thrown into further disarray by being given 11 letters left by her husband. These letters contain secrets from her husband....a live hidden from her. As she walks through her grief and shock, is it too late to take control of her life again and rebuild herself. Told through the eyes of her husband....a beekeeper........it's is written in the most beautiful form.