Liquid Gold

March 30, 2020
In a “how not to” narrative both humorous and emotionally affecting, Morgan-Grenville (Unlimited Overs), a British Army veteran and cofounder of the U.K. military charity Help for Heroes, recounts his midlife foray into honey making. Describing how he and a friend, Duncan, decided on a whim to begin keeping honey bees in England’s West Sussex countryside, Morgan-Grenville mines their frequent missteps for laughs. They immediately blow their agreed-upon budget while acquiring supplies at auction (a task requiring an “expert in the field with the self-control of a Trappist monk, not two ignorant and overenthusiastic novices”) and have to recapture an entire runaway colony—with Duncan away in London, he asks his wife to help, which she agrees to do for £150. He also shares sad moments, as when his and Duncan’s inexperience leads to the death of much of their hive, and they find themselves grieving for the insects with an emotion “perilously close to love.” For people hoping to also get into the honey game, Morgan-Grenville passes along hard-won wisdom, including how honey bee temperaments differ by region (the Northern European bee is “efficient and aggressive”; the Italian bee, “polite but idle”). Morgan-Grenville’s wry and thoughtful tale demonstrates why an item many take for granted should, in fact, be regarded as liquid gold.

March 27, 2020

Morgan-Grenville considers himself to be more of a bee-finder than beekeeper, and in this debut, he charts his two-year journey into the ups and downs of the Upperfold Bee Farm in West Sussex, England. Propelled by a combination of boredom and curiosity, Morgan-Grenville unabashedly shares how he and his companion beekeeper turned close friend Duncan learned to catch a swarm with bedsheets, along with how to spin both large and small amounts of honey. This story expands beyond the author and Duncan as their families and communities pitch in to help out. Even national politics plays a role as the 2016 Brexit referendum affects the business of his bee contacts. The trial of wasps, mites, hunger, frost and clumsy sheep is tempered with the golden success of honey flowing into jars. VERDICT A brief but engaging companion to the many beekeeping manuals on the shelf. Recommended even for nonhobbyists who seek comfort in small steps taken to commune with the changing natural world.--Catherine Lantz, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib.

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