Telling the Bees

Albert Honig's most constant companions have always been his bees. A never-married octogenarian, he makes a modest living as a beekeeper, as his father and his father's father did before him. Deeply acquainted with the workings of the hives, Albert is less versed in the ways of people, especially his friend Claire, whose presence and absence in his life have never been reconciled.When Claire is killed in a seemingly senseless accident during a burglary gone wrong, Albert is haunted by the loss and by the secrets and silence that hovered between them forso long. As he pieces together the memories of their shared history, he will come to learn the painful truths about Claire's life and the redemptive power of laying the past to rest.

In Peggy Hesketh's poignant debut novel, an elderly beekeeper looks back on his quiet life and the secrets of a woman he never truly knew.

Peggy Hesketh's writing has appeared in Calliope and the Antietam Review, and her short story "A Madness of Two" was selected by Elizabeth George for inclusion in her anthology Two of the Deadliest. A longtime journalist, Peggy teaches writing and rhetoric at the University of California, Irvine. Telling the Bees is her first novel. Norman Dietz is a writer, an actor, and a solo performer. Since 1962, he has toured coast to coast, presenting his work before audiences all over the United States and Canada. He is the author of the comic novel Nailing It, as well as Fables and Vaudevilles and Plays and The Lifeguard and the Mermaid, collections of his work for the stage. Norman has also performed frequently on radio and television, and he has recorded over 150 audiobooks, many of which have earned him awards from AudioFile magazine, the ALA, and Publishers Weekly. Additionally, AudioFile named Norman one of the Best Voices of the Century. He lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.