The hive - Hardcover

HORNBY, Gill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1408704358 ISBN 13: 9781408704356

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group, 2013

Synopsis

Welcome to St Ambrose Primary School. A world of friendships, fights and feuding. And that's just the mothers. It's the start of another school year at St Ambrose. But while the children are in the classroom colouring in, their mothers are learning sharper lessons on the other side of the school gates. Lessons in friendship. Lessons in betrayal. Lessons in the laws of community, the transience of power...and how to get invited to lunch. Beatrice - undisputed queen bee. Ruler, by Divine Right, of all school fund-raising, this year, last year and, surely, for many years to come. Heather - desperate to volunteer, desperate to be noticed, desperate just to belong. Georgie - desperate for a fag. And Rachel - watching them all, keeping her distance. But soon to discover that the line between amused observer and miserable outcast is a thin one. The Hive is an irresistible, brilliantly observed novel - warm, witty and true. Wickedly funny, it is also a fascinating and subtle story about group politics and female friendship. From the joys and perils (well, mainly perils) of the Lunch Ladder, to the military operation that is the Car Boot Sale, via the dos and don'ts of dressing your child as a dalek, all human life is here.

About this title

About the Author

Gill Hornby is a writer and journalist. She lives with her husband, Robert Harris, and their four children in Kintbury, Berkshire. The Hive is her first novel.

From Booklist

Bea Stuart is the informal but undisputed leader of mums of the students at St. Ambrose Church Primary School, and for years, Rachel Mason has been her best friend and confidante. But after Rachel’s husband leaves her for another woman, Rachel finds herself, suddenly and without warning, outside her former inner circle. As Bea gets a job, and new residents join the community, the mothers’ social and power structures shift, with a new headmaster adding a note of piquancy. (And just to emphasize the title’s theme, Rachel’s mother keeps bees and provides selected information about the apian way.) Occasional tragedy strikes during the academic year described, but generally first-novelist Hornby displays a light, witty touch in masterfully delineating a quirky cast of characters, among them cynical Georgie, who hides her deep love of her expanding family and can throw together a gourmet lunch in minutes with what she grows in her own greenhouse, and Bea’s daughter, Scarlett, a mean girl learning well the lessons of her mother. Alternately touching and satirical but consistently entertaining. --Michele Leber

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1408704358
• ISBN 13: 9781408704356
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1