2007 books
62) Maxence Fermine, The Beekeeper, 2000
The Acorn Book Company produces beautifully bound and illustrated short novels, but the stories themselves are often insufficiently substantial to hold my attention much (apart, that is, from this one). The Beekeeper is the third in Fermine's 'Colours' trilogy, all relatively light stories themed on white, black and, here, gold, looking at how colours can define people's life stories. Aurélien Rochefer is a young beekeeper in 19th century France who is pulled by subconscious motives to seek out 'gold' in various gratifying forms, and his journey takes him to Africa and back. Unfortunately it feels too much like The Alchemist but taken in a different direction - life-affirming fables such as this are well and good but they only make any real impact when communicated with the imagination of a uniquely gifted writer, which Fermine unfortunately isn't, the result here being nothing more than a pretty, bland tale.