Here is the Beehive

Critics Review

• Amazing … I absolutely love the form, which breathes new life into a familiar story making it both more elegant and more brutal. I read it in one sitting, completely swept up in Ana’s fragmented narrative

  EMMA HEALEY

• My god, it’s stunning … Sarah is such a magnificent writer

  CECELIA AHERN

• An evocative portrait of marriage and adultery, Crossan’s adult fiction debut explores the singular agony of losing someone the world can never know was yours’

  WATERSTONES, Best Books of 2020: Debut Fiction

• A gutsy, modern, deeply entertaining and, at times, faintly subversive-feeling piece of work. It’s also entirely and likably original in its execution, quite unlike anything I’ve read before … the writing is so bright and alive and the novel is a triumph – crackling with psychological and sexual ambiguity

  OBSERVER

• Brilliant … An adult tale of love, betrayal and loss

  GUARDIAN, Biggest Books of the Autumn

• Excellent … An eviscerating account of modern marriage

  INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

• Sex, work and motherhood all come under the microscope in this vivid portrait of the agony of being “the other woman”

  DAILY MAIL

• This lyrical account of an adulterous affair and its brutal aftermath is all the more effective and affecting for the spare, sparse style and I expect it to win as many awards as Sarah Crossan’s YA fiction has done

  RED

• A riveting tale of infidelity and obsession, told in verse form. Perfect for the staycation sunlounger

  YOU

• Composed in free verse, psychologically acute and laced with complicated emotions, this is a gripping, gorgeously written exploration of what it means to be in an obsessive, destructive relationship

  S MAGAZINE

• A gripping, voyeuristic read that gallops along

  IRISH TIMES

• I absolutely gobbled it up: dark, riveting, powerful … Delivers on a whole new level

  ELIZABETH DAY

• A stunner

  GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

• Raw, emotional and wistful

  WOMAN & HOME

• I read this stunning book standing up in two hours. An eviscerating take on marriage and adultery

  ERIN KELLY

• A beautifully crafted sucker punch of a read. Sarah Crossan has always had an exquisite way with words and in this she uses poetic prose to craft an honest and oftentimes gritty exploration of two intertwined marriages, slowly unravelling. Painfully believable, passionate and occasionally heartbreaking, Here is the Beehive provides further proof that Sarah Crossan is an infinitely gifted writer. We’re lucky to have her

  JAN CARSON

• We can’t recommend this enough

  TAKE A BREAK

• A searing portrait of addictive love and grief and the devastation human beings can wreak on each other … It is an addictive read, painful, unsettling, full of uncomfortable truths, yet the work itself resounds with its own unique bleak beauty

  LISA HARDING

• Devastatingly honest, heartbreaking and tender … This is the most extraordinary novel I have read in years in form, ambition and scope – an incredible achievement and an instant classic. I will read it again and again

  JANE CASEY

• Here is the Beehive is an unflinching take on the destructive power of obsessive love. It is also a highly original study of the grief that dare not speak its name – the grief of the other woman

  CHRISTINE DWYER HICKEY

• Raw and emotional, it reminds us what it is to be human and imperfect

  WOMAN'S WAY

• I couldn’t put it down. I just loved it. The prose is clean yet rich, her dialogue ear-perfect

  LOUISE KENNEDY

• How does she get so much emotion into so few words? Sarah Crossan is a miracle worker … Utterly meaningful, original and accomplished

  SINEAD CROWLEY

• This devastating novel looks at how secrecy and desire can compel us to do the unthinkable, and the shattering pain of hidden heartache

  IRISH COUNTRY MAGAZINE

• PRAISE FOR SARAH CROSSAN: ‘One of our most original writers. Sarah has almost created an entirely new form of writing in her novels that is hers and hers alone

  JOHN BOYNE

• Compelling and beautifully wrought

  SUNDAY TIMES

• The princess of pacing … Crossan always finds humour and humanity in the darkness; it’s impossible not to read it in a single gulp

  THE TIMES

• Truly remarkable

  IRISH TIMES

• There are familiar flavours and notes and moments of powerful sweetness, but she complicates them with such power and subtlety, in a way that doesn’t alienate the reader. The tang of fire is in there, always, leaving a unique aftertaste. You wouldn’t mistake it for any other writer, and you won’t soon forget it

  DEIRDRE SULLIVAN

• Utterly sublime

  CECELIA AHERN

• An intense and intimate story

  IRISH EXAMINER

• Replete with humour, love, heartbreak and jealousy. The story draws on universal experiences with an admirable honesty about how difficult relationships can be

  RTE GUIDE

• Infuriating, barbed and bleakly funny … a distorted love poem as well as the story of a woman finally confronting herself

  IRISH INDEPENDENT