Lit in Translation

The Bee Sting

The Bee Sting

Paul Murray (born 1975)

English editions

Written in English

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Dickie Barnes's car business, once the pride of the town, is failing, and instead of fighting for it he spends his days in the woods building a shelter for the apocalypse, still living in the shadow of his dead brother Frank, the family star. His wife Imelda, who suspects she chose the wrong brother, is quietly selling her jewels online and is tempted by Big Mike, a cattle farmer. Their daughter Cass, due to start university, loses her way through an unhealthy friendship and other temptations, and her younger brother PJ, absorbed in life online, is preparing to run off with a stranger he has met there. Told in turn by all four, the novel asks how the family came to this point: the economic collapse, buried secrets, or the bee that stung the bride as she got married.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form
Novel
Genres
Family (assigned by AI)
Set in
Ireland
First published
2023
Author's age
48 when first published
ISBN

9780374600303 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, United States)

9780241353950 (Hamish Hamilton, United Kingdom)

9780241984406 (Penguin, United Kingdom)

9781250338259 (Picador, United States)

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Wikidata