Bees and Their Keepers

Author Lotte Moller
Narrator Julie Maisey
Publisher Quercus
Run Time 4 hours and 13 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Nature and the natural world: general interest, Wildlife: butterflies, other insects and spiders: general interest, Wildlife: general interest.

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What to expect

With deep knowledge and a sharp wit, Lotte Möller unfolds our understanding of bees and bee lore from antiquity to the present.

A beekeeper herself, she gives insight into the activity in the hive and describes the bees' natural order and habits. She explores the myths of the past, and how and when they were replaced by fact. For example, the heated discussions that broke out in the eighteenth century when it was discovered that the hive was ruled by a queen, not a king as had been the belief since Aristotle.

In her travels Möller encounters a host of colourful characters, from a trigger-happy Californian beekeeper raging against both killer bees and bee politics, to the warring beekeepers on the island of Læso and Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey, breeder of the Buckfast queen now popular throughout Europe and beyond.

Bees and Their Keepers is a compelling cultural history for the beekeeper and general reader alike.

Translated from the Swedish by Frank Perry

(P)2020 Quercus Editions Limited

Critics Review

I begin to yearn for bees of my own while reading this . . . Möller has done her research well and there is a swarm of quotes, character introductions, fact boxes and thematic strokes . . . The book is actually a history of ideas about bees, filled to the brim with thoughts and notions about man’s best friend – on six legs.

Arbeterbladet

Educational and entertaining, it adds insight to how humans throughout time have co-existed with bees and it also puts the present in relief against this history spanning several thousand years . . . The book becomes solace against escalating climate angst, the inability to act, and apathy – because from history’s swarm of bee-keepers emerges a strong counter-movement: an embryo of hope for the future of mankind and the planet.

Västerbottens-Kuriren

In her wonderful bee book, Lotte Möller describes how humans and bees have accompanied each other throughout history, and tells us about her own bees (which initially she feared), honey frauds, hive models, bee sex, and today’s complex bee world. Beautiful, readable and bee supportive.

Allt om Trädgård

Bees and Their Keepers is an entertaining book – easy to love and learn from

Dagen

A fine balance of knowledge and humour on a high level . . . Like a diligent bee, Lotte Möller travels through the ages . . . You do not want it to end, but all of a sudden it does, and you are left with a faint humming in your head

Weekendavisen

A charming look at the history of #beekeeping, from myth and folklore to our practical relationship with bees

Gardens Illustrated

An entertaining collation of bee trivia across the millennia

Daily Telegraph

Bee keeper and garden historian Lotte Moller explores our bond with bees, meeting people who are immersed in
apiculture all over the world. Beautifully illustrated and written with humour,

Garden Answers Magazine

Well-illustrated, fascinating and informative . . . Her knowledge is encyclopedic and scholarly and the complex nature of apiculture past and present is conveyed factually but in a lively anecdotal style that employs humour to great effect.

Irish Times

Möller has a strong voice, charming, funny and authoritative; so even if bees and honey really aren’t your thing, it’s still a pleasure to be in her company

Fortean Times

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