by Lori Savery-Hinze

Created on: October 25, 2010

Little Bee is the second novel from British author Chris Cleave, whose first novel, Incendiary, was adapted into a feature film. Little Bee was originally titled, The Other Hand, but was released in the US and Canada under the title Little Bee.

Little Bee is told in first person narration, alternating the two main characters of Little Bee and Sarah O’Rourke. Little Bee is a young refugee from Nigeria. Sarah is a British magazine editor. After an error in her paperwork, Little Bee is released from the immigration detention center in Essex with nowhere to go. She calls the home of Sarah and Andrew O’Rourke, a British couple whose lives were forever changed when they took their holiday to a resort in Nigeria and came across Little Bee and her sister, Nkiruka.

Little Bee’s narration frequently mentions her fascination with “the Queen’s English.” Though English is the official language of Nigeria, she knows that the best way to survive the detention center is to “look good or talk even better.” Her wonder and fascination with British life juxtaposed against the violence she escaped is a great example of human spirit. The seemingly random things that fascinate her are what makes Little Bee seem like a living, breathing person, rather than just a nameless statistic.

Sarah’s story is told with her own heartbreak and life complications. She meets Little Bee again on the day of her husband Andrew’s funeral. Sarah is wrestling with the guilt over Andrew’s suicide and how to help her four year-old son Charlie cope with the loss. Adding to the complication, Sarah has been carrying on an affair with another man for a couple of years. Despite her own grief, or perhaps because of it, she allows Little Bee to stay, and she naively believes she can assist with her immigration status.

The brilliance of the storytelling is how events are revealed little by little. The lack of information kept me turning the pages, and gasping when my questions were answered. I loved almost everything about this book. I admired the strength and endurance of the characters, even as I was frustrated with their very human flaws. The back and forth between the narration is flawless. The voices of Sarah and Little Bee were unique and completely distinguishable. I was so wrapped up in the story, I was sorry when it came to a close. The ending was a little unsatisfactory to me. There were so many memorable, stand-out scenes in the book, but the ending was not one of them. It was a bit inconclusive, but maybe that’s the point. So many of our life adventures are inconclusive. We rarely survive life’s challenges with clear-cut success or failure. Each adventure just prepares us for the next one.

Learn more about this author, Lori Savery-Hinze.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.