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The descriptive copy for Chris Cleave's novel Little Bee is intentionally vague. It says in part: "We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.... Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either." Little Bee struck a chord with book club facilitator Esther Bushell and one of her groups, and she shares some of her thoughts about the story --- without giving too much away. On his website, Cleave talks about why he wrote the novel.


Last Friday night, Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee (if you haven't read it, you should) and his publicist, Alexis Welby from Simon & Schuster, came out to Greenwich, Connecticut, to meet with one of my couples book groups. The women in the group are quite accustomed to having phone chats and going to author events, but for the men, this was a new and exciting experience.

Chris's naturalness, sincerity and passion were so engaging. He personalized his novel for us, but he also addressed head on some of the controversial and provocative issues that his brilliant new novel presents. He didn't pontificate, nor was he pedantic. Chris forthrightly answered questions and, of course, everyone agreed that his visit with us completely enriched the reading experience.

Chris is now on his cross-country book tour (you can see videos of various events on his website) and we're looking forward to Little Bee's success throughout the USA. We like to think that he had a proper launching here in Connecticut. This book should be on the top of your stack!

---Esther Bushell