The Honey Farm

Vintage Margaret Atwood meets Patricia Highsmith in this slyly seductive debut set on an eerily beautiful farm teeming with secrets.

The drought has discontented the bees. Soil dries into sand; honeycomb stiffens into wax. But Cynthia knows how to breathe life back into her farm: offer it as an artists’ colony with free room, board, and “life experience” in exchange for backbreaking labour. Silvia, a wide-eyed graduate and would-be poet, and Ibrahim, a painter distracted by constant inspiration, are drawn to Cynthia’s offer, and soon, to each other.

But something lies beneath the surface. The edenic farm is plagued by events that strike Silvia as ominous: taps run red, scalps itch with lice, frogs swarm the pond. One by one, the other residents leave. As summer tenses into autumn, Cynthia’s shadowed past is revealed and Silvia becomes increasingly paralyzed by doubt. Building to a shocking conclusion, The Honey Farm announces the arrival of a bold new voice and offers a thrilling portrait of creation and possession in the natural world.

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average rating is 4 out of 5, based on 2 votes, book lovers sharing their thoughts

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Violet

Location:

Nova Scotia

average rating is 4 out of 5

Time Published

The Honey Farm

"The Honey Farm" by Harriet Alida Lye was a very powerful and magnifying read. The suspense of the story was compelling, and reading this book felt like a bullet was shot through my heart.

We follow the protagonist, Silvia, and her journey of self-discovery and her eagerness to taste freedom. Her whole life has been drawn to the high expectations of her parents, only ever knowing what she was taught. She knew she couldn’t continue living like this, but she was afraid of change. Up until now. After a while of longing for what life has to offer outside of the strict grounds of her parents, she attends the Honey Farm, to take herself as far away as possible. She builds a life that is structured around the farm, almost as if she restarted her life as a twenty-three-year-old. In the Honey Farm, she is exposed to freedom, experiencing and learning new things such as love, loss, grief, trust, isolation, and loyalty. Further into the book, she later realizes that although her parents might’ve not been able to follow her, her anxious and doubtful old self was always out to hunt her.

Harriet Alidad Lye’s writing style is very lyrical and beautiful. It has a sense of poetic and symbolic portrait to the storyline, as well as expressive phrases with an intense hook at the end of each chapter. She describes the feelings perfectly, truly understanding all her characters, essentially bringing the book to life.

I loved how the author narrates all characters, revealing their true identity and disguised form. Additionally, I loved how the book references and connects to the Bible, and Silvia’s character development with her faith and doubts, perfectly portraying a religious faith and warfare journey.

I recommend "The Honey Farm" to whoever may be questioning their ways of their life. This book will reassure you that there is always more to life than you might think.

I recommend this book.

Molly Powers

Location:

Newfoundland and Labrador

average rating is 4 out of 5

Time Published

The Honey Farm

The Honey Farm by Harriet Alida Lye. What can I say it was an amazing read. It was hard to get into at first there were many characters in different places with different stories. It was kind of hard to keep track of them all. Other wise it was a thrilling book that was easy to connect with almost all of the characters in one small way or another. Over all I would recommend you read if you are into fast paced intriguing novels.

I recommend this book.