The Poet and the Bees - by Amy Novesky (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A mesmerizing picture book about the iconic poet Sylvia Plath and her final writings

Love, bees don't live long.
But honey lives forever. Words, too.

Sylvia Plath is remembered for her stirring poetry and the tragic legacy her work left behind. But it is lesser known that she was a beekeeper and completed her last book of poems while tending to her bees and harvesting honey.

Author and beekeeper Amy Novesky shines a new light on the life and work of Plath through the lens of her last seasons with her beloved bees--and how during their short and busy lives, they filled her with inspiration and hope--while the evocative paintings by Stonewall Book Award winner Jessica Love reveal the tenderness and wonder of one of America's most iconic poets.

Review Quotes

★ "Novesky successfully refocuses the lens from Plath's tragic death to the poet as artist, centering her hopeful ambition and keen relationship with nature. Attentive, deeply respectful, lovely." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "If the metaphorical freight looms large here, there is enough genuine feeling to keep it from sitting too heavily, and in the afterword the author returns to her opening thought by urging readers to look past the poet's 'legendary death' to the rich, sweet words she left behind." --Booklist, starred review

"The work leaves behind a sense of [Plath's] solitude, competing demands on her time, and the way both hive and poet navigate seasonal change." --Publishers Weekly

"The tension between Plath's melancholic moods and lyrical poetry and the hopeful, careful process of beekeeping is captured beautifully." --The Horn Book

About the Author

Amy Novesky writes stories about creative and courageous women and is the author of Girl on a Motorcycle; Cloth Lullaby; and Me, Frida. She lives outside of San Francisco with her family.

You can visit her online at AmyNovesky.com or on Instagram @AmyNovesky.

Jessica Love is the author and illustrator of the Stonewall Book Award winner Julián Is a Mermaid and Julián at the Wedding and has illustrated many other books for children. She lives in the Hudson Valley with family.

You can visit her online at JessLove.Format.com or on Instagram @JessLoveDraws.