#5. Magical Realism – The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia (Kindle)

I was a bit stumped by the term “magical realism,” do I own any books under that category?  As I scrolled through the ideas listed on the challenge web page, I noticed, and remembered, I had a copy of one of the novels suggested on my Kindle App. I bought “The Murmur of Bees” in August 2021 but never got around to reading it; there was always something better to read, or at least that’s what I thought. What a beautiful story, and what a shame I left it so long before reading it.

 

“From the day that old Nana Reja found a baby abandoned under a bridge, the life of a small Mexican town forever changed. Disfigured and covered in a blanket of bees, little Simonopio is for some locals the stuff of superstition, a child kissed by the devil. But he is welcomed by landowners Francisco and Beatriz Morales, who adopt him and care for him as if he were their own. As he grows up, Simonopio becomes a cause for wonder to the Morales family, because when the uncannily gifted child closes his eyes, he can see what no one else can―visions of all that’s yet to come, both beautiful and dangerous. Followed by his protective swarm of bees and living to deliver his adoptive family from threats―both human and those of nature―Simonopio’s purpose in Linares will, in time, be divined.

 

Set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution and the devastating influenza of 1918, The Murmur of Bees captures both the fate of a country in flux and the destiny of one family that has put their love, faith, and future in the unbelievable.”

Often, when a tale is translated from the language it was written it, it can lose its meaning, however, Simon Bruni has worked his magic in translating this book from Spanish into English. It retains a beautiful poetical quality, and it gives the impression the family could be recounting their life story around the dinner table. Told largely in chronological order, the narrative does tease the reader as to what the future holds, much like Simonopio’s visions, before returning the reader back to events both in the past and present, allowing the reader access to precious details required to understand the various characters.

The tale begins in Mexico in the early 1900’s when Nana Reja finds a baby abandoned under a bridge, its body covered in a blanket of living bees. Miraculously it hasn’t been stung, instead it seems to have formed a connection to the bees. No-one suspects who the baby belongs to, but to have been born with such a deformity, and with superstitions rife in the village, the only plausible answer is that it must have been born to one of the witches of La Petaca.

Nana Reja lives beside a shed on the Hacienda Amisted. She has sat in her chair looking at the view for so many years, the townspeople have forgotten who she ever was; she forms part of the scenery, no longer treated like a person. No-one living could remember why she had chosen that particular place to rest, it was just expected that she would be there when people woke and would still be there when they retired to their beds at night. So when, one morning, the Morales family head out to give her breakfast and she isn’t there, panic sets in. Hacienda workers are sent to scour the area to find her; where would someone who hadn’t left their rocking chair in 30 years suddenly go?

“Simonopio’s arrival was an event that marked us irreversibly. A family watershed. Later, it became the difference between life and death, though we would not understand this until we looked back on it from far in the future.”

When Nana arrives back at the homestead, despite the fear surrounding the baby and his disfigurement, the Morales family treat it as their own, and their lives are changed forever. It becomes apparent that Simonopio was born with a cleft palate which limits his ability to speak. Always surrounded by his bees, Simonopio lives a unique life through them. They are his protectors. His connection to nature allows him to sense danger and foresee future events, and whilst the boy does not speak verbally, he has the ability to guide his family through some tumultuous times in Mexican history.

The Murmur of Bees is a unique tale of love and loss, tragedy and hope. There is a lot of death to deal with due to the arrival of the Spanish Flu of 1918. Having recently lived through the Covid pandemic, it was challenging to read about suffering 100 years earlier when there were no vaccines or adequate healthcare available. It is hard to imagine the suffering that took place as households would leave their dead outside their front doors to be carted away to a mass grave.

If that wasn’t enough for families to deal with, this is also the era of the Mexican Revolution, and we see the sacrifices the Morales family undertake as they desperately try to hold onto their lands. In a book that sounds so bleak, Simonopio seems to bring some mystical relief, however, it soon becomes clear that his visions are equally a blessing and a curse for the Morales family.

This is a gentle paced book that grips you the further you get into it. You need to spend time investing in the characters before you can appreciate the book for what is a captivating tale; on the one hand the plot sounds plausible, yet on the other totally absurd. Obviously, a young child is not going to have a swarm of bees following it everywhere, yet when you read the “Guinness Book of Records” under “bee beards” it no longer seems so ridiculous!

I thought this was a beautifully written book, albeit a bit of a tearjerker, following this family drama on a voyage and survival of two of the worst things to hit Mexico, the beginning of the Mexican Revolution and the effects of the Spanish Influenza pandemic.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, Fantasy, Historical

Release Date: 1^st March 2015 – Kindle

Publisher: AmazonCrossing

Pages: 471

 

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