The Beekeeper's Promise Paperback – May 16, 2018

All of Fiona Valpy’s book are little treasures. The emotional depth, the character developments, and interesting story linesare always wonderfully done. You will become deeply invested in the characters and truly care about their outcomes. I highly recommend them! And, oh yes, you will also learn things by reading them- - not just history of the time period, but other interesting things. In this book, you’ll learn a bit about bees and their keeping as well as the conditions the people lived in during German occupation of this area of France. I found it all very enlightening and entertaining. Top marks!

This charming novel alternates time and points of view between present day Abi and WWII Eliane. The setting is always small town France. While the town is fictional, the setting in the Dordogne region is recognizable. Abi lives in London, but she arrives in France after a difficult past to attend a Yoga retreat. Through a series of events, she leaves the retreat and lands at a Chateau that is now a wedding venue where she signs on to work for the season. Eliane is the miller’s daughter. She tends bees, gathers herbs and mushrooms, works at the same Chateau for the Comte and works for the resistance. The stories are well told and fresh enough to be interesting and entertaining. The fictional town is right on the border between occupied France and Vichy France. The tensions along the border and border controls are very interesting and part of the story that is seldom featured. There are parts of Abi and Eliane’s stories that are harrowing, but the book is not filled with gruesome details. The writing is good, and the pacing kept me turning the pages quickly. The setting in France is part of its charm for me. The plot is largely believable, and the stories are interesting.

Not a book about beekeeping, though bees do play a prominent part.It is a lovely story with life lessons wrapped up in it. Alternately set in 2017 and WWII, in a beautiful corner of France, the past lives tell us of hardships and decisions that have to be made to safeguard loved ones.Every generation has its own hardships to face. Each of us has to find the courage and strength to rise above the trials. Can you?Quite an enjoyable read, though you might be reaching for the tissues on multiple occasions.I would definitely add this author to my library.

I couldn’t put this book down although I did a few times because it’s fairly long. I loved the characters, the history although very sad, and the information about bee keepers, weddings, world war 2, and the beautiful lessons learned about living life. I’m going to look for another one of her books.

A wonderful read to curl up with when you’re in the mood for a bit of distraction and desire for a light romantic adventure. Despite the heaviness that surrounds the topic of Nazi occupation in Europe, this novel is not overshadowed due to deft storytelling and masterful weaving of several characters, two timeframes, and healthy doses of mystery, romance, and strong family bonds.The author uses beautiful metaphors to deposit you directly into the scenery, and the recurrent references to seasons and nature’s own timing paired well with moving the story along in one timeframe, while successfully keeping the other storyline safely in place.I appreciated the historical references and the author‘s due diligence in presenting the facts accurately.If you’re looking for an incredibly detailed and harrowing read, move along. This book reads like a pg 13 movie script, which is just fine if you’re into that genre. The novel feels a little... too perfect and polished. But that is a horrible nitpick that I’m even slightly ashamed to write.I’d recommend this to most people.

I am a fan of this author and read this book following the “Escape to France” trilogy. This book follows “The Season of Dreams” with a continuation of some of those characters; although it is not an official part of that collection and you don’t NEED to read the others first (although I was glad I had).In The Beekeeper’s Promise we are transported back to France in the era of WWII. There are beautiful insights into the war’s impact on the French people as a community and as individuals. I immediately embraced the characters and felt an intimate view into their life and their relationships and their struggles to hold onto a sense of hope.Ms Valpy intertwines that storyline with a thread from 2017 that keeps you rooting for that character’s perseverance as she, too, struggles to find and believe in her own inner strengths.Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the bees…it was a gift to learn about their strength of purpose as well, and they were the perfect theme for the story.A lovely read!

I love books about WWII; the occupation of Italy and France and the peoples' resistance to the Nazi regime. This a good story about the occupation of France and the French resistance but it didn't completely hold my interest. As another reviewer commented, it was a little "soft" in the description of life for the French people under Nazi occupation but the reader did get a flavor of life in a small French town on the border of France and Vichy France. It is a book divided between two periods in history and two female characters: Abi from 2017 and Eliane from the war years. The chapters alternated between the two characters and time periods which some readers complained about but which I, personally, like. Abi arrived in France at the end of an abusive marriage and worked at a Chateau which hosted guests and their wedding parties. Eliane was the miller's daughter who tended bees at the same Chateau during the war. The characters are interesting and well developed but I was put off by the premise that living within and escaping a bad marriage (Abi) was comparable to living under the rule of monsters and murderers (Eliane).The author has written another book about the French resistance featuring Eliane's sister who lived in Paris. I will read that book next since it is a topic and time period that I am very interested in.